Santa Baby
by SplendentGoddess
Summary: Part 3 to my Secret Santa universe! One more year has come and gone, and Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship is just as strong as ever. What new changes and challenges face our favorite couple as the Christmas season comes back around again?


Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

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Hello and welcome! As the summary stated, this one-shot is the third (and final) installment to my Secret Santa trilogy. If you have not yet read both 'Secret Santa' and 'Not So Secret Santa' then I _strongly _recommend you do so before reading this story.

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~ Santa Baby ~

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Walking through the empty house, Kagome stared into the living room, her eyes and mind both seeing the space at the same time as she visualized what it could look like fully furnished. She didn't need a staged model to envision the perfect living space, and it wasn't one of her miko powers, either.

"It's one of the wonders of being a woman." the female Realtor said to the male hanyou standing beside her with a playfully sympathetic, amused smile, as they both observed Kagome talking to herself under her breath while making hand gestures, rearranging the invisible furniture until the room was perfect.

Finally, the miko turned and looked her fiancé's way, a huge smile on her face.

"I think she likes it." Inuyasha said to the Realtor, chuckling as Kagome nodded enthusiastically, having heard him.

"What do _you_ think about the house?" the Realtor asked him in return, eyeing him critically but still with an amused grin on her lips, and he chuckled some more at her expression.

"I think...whatever house Kagome likes is the perfect house."

"Good answer, good man..." the Realtor said with a small laugh of her own.

Agreeing to meet her back at her office to fill out the paperwork for making an offer, Inuyasha and Kagome got in their car and followed their Real Estate agent as she drove away in her own. They'd had a bit of a tough time finding an agent willing to work with them, but Inuyasha absolutely loved the woman they'd found.

"Third time's the charm." Kagome had said, in regard to the first two Realtors who'd turned out to be racist ass holes.

The first one had also been a woman, but she'd been a total bitch. Not on the surface, but Kagome had immediately been able to sense her animosity towards them when they'd met in person at the first house they'd been looking at online, the woman who over the phone had been so eager to meet with them and give them the tour suddenly coming off as if she'd wanted to be _anywhere _but with the unorthodox couple. It had been an excruciatingly uncomfortable experience for the three of them, but Kagome had tried her best to pay attention to the actual house, which hadn't really been what she'd been hoping for, anyway, and there had been no way in all the hells they were going to ask that lady to show them anything else and so they'd told her no thank you, and she'd just about flown out of there.

The second Realtor, a man, had actually had the balls to tell them to their faces that he didn't approve of 'their kind' and that he wanted no part in assisting them before he'd promptly gotten back in his car and left. At least the guy had been upfront and honest about it; Inuyasha had begrudgingly respected his candor. He absolutely loathed dealing with people who reeked of their fear and/or hatred but still acted nice on the surface. Comparing their first Realtor's reaction with Kagome's giddy nervousness around him when they'd first met, it was like night and day, and it really made the hanyou feel like a dumb ass for having misread Kagome's crush for so long. But like he'd admitted to the girl on their first date, _nobody _had ever liked him before, and so he simply hadn't known how to read the signs. He'd thought that her nervousness was just a different shade of the same variety of nervousness that nearly everyone else had always felt around him nearly his entire life.

Fortunately, there were a few random people he'd encountered here and there that were honestly okay with the fact that he was a hanyou, even if it was only because they had something to gain from it, like his various leads who would call him with a tip if they spotted something camera worthy. Their third Real Estate agent also fell into that category, because surely at the end of the day she was in it for the money, but the bottom line was that she wasn't going to let race stand in the way of her making that money, and beyond that, both he and Kagome could legitimately tell that she was legit. She had the attitude of 'a customer is a customer' and nothing else mattered; she honestly didn't loath the fact that he was half youkai.

When Kagome had first called her up, prepared to go through the entire online list of local Realtors one-by-one until they found one willing to help them – because they _were _buying a house, damn it – Kagome had told the Realtor upfront, in her polite, Kagome way, that her fiancé was a hanyou and to please let them know if that was going to be a problem. The lady had expressed surprise, of course, but thankfully also understanding, her surprise, she'd said, stemming from the fact that hanyou were simply so rare and so she'd actually never met one before. With a sympathetic tone she'd told Kagome that race wouldn't be an issues to her and that she'd be glad to help them, and now, two weeks and four houses later, they were ready to sign some paperwork.

oooOooo

Arriving back home at their apartment, Inuyasha watched Kagome as she busied herself with cleaning out some junk drawers, a state of awe coming over him at the realization that he and his future bride were about to become homeowners. If you had told him two years ago that in such a short period of time he and his miko coworker were going to be in such a loving, committed relationship, he'd have laughed bitterly in your face and told you to stop fucking around with his emotions. While exactly two years ago he _had _already begun to wonder if he'd been wrong about Kagome hating him – it was after their accidental aura collision and when he'd first begun to wonder if she could have possibly _liked _him – he still never in a million years would have believed at that time that their relationship was going to be so successful. At that time he never would have believed that just a few short months later he and Kagome would make love on their first date, immediately jumping into becoming boyfriend and girlfriend afterwards.

It had been fitting, he thought, proposing to her at the following year's office Christmas party, since it had been at the Christmas party two years ago that she'd first braved making her feelings known, taking such a huge risk in front of all their coworkers by presenting him with that hand-painted portrait of himself. Last year, it'd been his turn, although he hadn't really felt that proposing to her was a risk in any way, since he'd known she'd say yes, but it'd still been scary exposing so much of himself in front of everyone else. Chuckling to himself at the memory, he hoped that none of their coworkers were expecting anymore 'Inuyasha/Kagome soap operas' at _this_ year's Christmas party. They were going, of course, but there was nothing grandiose that either of them had planned; not on that Saturday, at least. The following Tuesday, however, they had some very big plans indeed, but everyone will have already received their invitations long before the office Christmas party.

It had felt right, to the both of them, to set the date for their wedding for Christmas Eve. It had absolutely nothing to do with trying to avoid creating a new special date to remember, as Miroku had jokingly stated was his reason for wanting to marry Sango on Valentine's Day. They all knew he'd just been kidding, anyway, and that it was actually the romantic in him that had chosen such a romantic holiday as _their _special day. But even though Christmas Eve was also a romantic holiday of sorts for young couples, it was only because it was the anniversary of their first date that Inuyasha had wanted it. If they'd waited until after Christmas to go out on that first date, well then that would've become their wedding anniversary, instead.

Even though it was only September at the moment, it seemed like time was running away with them, he thought, as he continued to watch Kagome clean out the junk drawers with a crooked smile on his face. Christmas Eve would be there before they knew it, and then he'd get to spend the rest of his life with Kagome as his wife, his mate; something he'd _never _thought he'd have. And he would have her for the rest of _his _life, _their _lives, not just for the rest of _hers_. Granted, he honestly had no idea how long he was going to live, the documented average lifespan of hanyou ranging everywhere from a normal human lifespan to a few centuries, depending on the strength of the youki, but Inuyasha suspected that his lifespan would be up there because of just how powerful _his _youki was. It was something he and Kagome had previously chosen not to discuss, the same way, he imagined, that human couples with a very large age gap between them didn't like talking about how the older one would most likely die so much sooner. At first, Inuyasha had been thinking that if he could somehow magically force his body to age the same as Kagome, he would; he'd choose to grow old with her rather than watch her age while he stayed the same. Now, though, it looked like things were probably going to happen the other way around, instead. Only time would tell, but there was definitely a bond between them, and one that went beyond mere emotional attachment. Although it had been unintentional, and completely unrealized at first by the two of them, they've both since become aware of the fact that their auras were tied together in the most beneficial of ways. It was a type of bond that could only be formed by two spiritually powerful beings that loved each other very much. It was the stuff of legend, and they weren't telling _anyone_. Not yet, at least. Eventually people would begin to notice, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

It'd happened several months ago, when Kagome had accidentally sliced her finger with a kitchen knife while making dinner. It hadn't been that bad, but with the way Inuyasha had fussed over her you'd have thought she was dying. He'd immediately taken over dinner preparations, and had practically waited on her hand and foot for the rest of the night afterwards. She had been able to sense how agitated he really was because of her miko powers, inu-youkai being especially caring for their chosen mates whenever said mate got injured, and so when she'd felt the natural rise of his youki as a response to said agitation she had responded in turn by letting her aura wrap the feeling of his own around herself like a blanket. It was something they had done before, usually while making love, although never quite to this level of intensity. She'd embraced the feel of his very essence engulfing her being, using her own mental ability to control her own spiritual energies to pull him in even closer, rather than her miko aura shoving his away, as she instinctively would do were he an invading youkai presence. Reiki wasn't an automatic foe of youki; her heart and soul knew and loved this man, and so therefore she would never, _could _never allow her aura to harm him in any way, shape or form.

Already possessing the natural ability to somewhat merge her soul with another person's, temporarily, in order to conjure up the images she could evoke through meditation, she'd used that ability to return his affections that night, wrapping her aura around his own being as well. It was normally something she really had to concentrate to do, and as soon as she relaxed, her aura would snap back inside herself like an elastic band being stretched before releasing the pressure, but because he had been meeting her halfway with his own aura it had been much easier for her to maintain the bond that night, and they'd both found comfort in the feel of the other person's essence tickling at the back of their minds.

He'd held her in his arms that night, her body spooned into his embrace, her back against his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head, and she'd dreamt of him, the snapshot image that would come to her during heavy meditation becoming her living, breathing dreamworld. She'd dreamt of the wild, truest part of himself that had been captured by her painting. She'd seen him in those ancient red robes, sword on his hip, running from treetop to treetop in the forest. She had been with him, riding on his back, sometimes shooting arrows at an enemy youkai, sometimes simply enjoying the ride and his company. They'd sat together in that giant tree this time, rather than the solitary Inuyasha of her portrait. He'd reclined with his back against the trunk, wrapping his arms around her to keep her both safe and warm, his billowing sleeves cloaking her petite form like a blanket. It had been the most comfortable sleep of her life, and at first, waking up, she'd honestly felt surprised to find herself lying on her side in a bed, until 'real life' had flooded her mind, informing her that what she'd just experienced had been a dream.

She'd asked him out of curiosity if he'd had any remarkably vivid dreams the night before, as well, knowing that her vision had to have come from falling asleep with their auras still tied together – something she had been amazed at in and of itself and that the old Kagome would have told you wasn't even possible, since it usually required so much mental discipline on her part to maintain the bond – and he'd surprised her even further in that moment by describing the _exact same dream _she herself had just experienced. Pulling her into a kiss, before reluctantly letting her go because they both needed to start getting ready for work, Inuyasha had told her that if she wanted to bring her arrows along some time, because they just might need them, that he'd gladly take her out for a run out in the wild forest, for real. It sounded like fun.

Letting Inuyasha have the bathroom first while she went out into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, he'd told her it was all hers a few minutes later and she'd began by brushing the 'bed head' out of her hair. The two of them had adopted the rather pleasurable pastime of showering together in the evenings after work, when they had the time to not feel rushed, and so with neither of them needing to shower that morning she was just going to wash her face and start getting ready for work. First, though, she needed to tend to her minor medical emergency.

Taking the band-aid off her finger with the intent to wash the cut off and put on a clean band-aid, Kagome had stared, agape, at the perfectly smooth, unblemished skin.

_What the_... she'd thought, looking closer, even going so far as to turn her hand over and check the other side, as if the cut could have possibly moved. She'd snorted to herself at the thought. But yet, checking her had one more time, there hadn't even been the tiniest mark. There was _no way_ it could have been completely healed already, and yet, there it was.

She had immediately called Inuyasha into the bathroom, the hanyou appearing in the doorway before she'd even finished the last syllable of his name. He'd stood, staring at her expectantly, in his boxers and tank top, his unbuttoned dress shirt hanging loosely off his arms.

"What's wrong?" he'd asked her with an edge of worry in his voice, his agitation triggered by the unmistakable note of concern in Kagome's own voice, not to mention the thunderous pounding of her heart.

Looking up to meet his eyes, Kagome had held up her previously injured hand to show him her miraculously healed skin, and immediately spotting what she was showing him he'd sniffed in her direction while taking a few steps forward, confirming for himself that the cut was indeed completely healed.

"Not that I'm not tremendously grateful, but I know humans don't heal that fast. I saw how deep that slice was." he'd said slowly, sounding just as confused as she'd felt.

"Yeah," she'd agreed, "I should definitely still have a cut here."

Holding her finger up while tilting her head to the side in contemplation, a cute habit she'd picked up from her canine fiancé that Inuyasha thought was too adorable to spoil by telling her she did it, Kagome had thought about the fact that they'd shared the same dream the night before, and that she'd fallen asleep with their auras still linked together, something that could have only happened because while _he'd _slept his aura had maintained its death grip on her own. It had to be an inu-youkai instinctual thing. It was her ability to control her miko aura that had given him something to latch onto, but it had been his ability to_ latch on _that had maintained the bond while she'd slept. It'd required the both of them meeting in the middle; it was something that neither he nor she could have accomplished alone with a 'normal' human.

"Do you think..." she'd started in that moment, biting her lower lip in thought.

"That my youki healed you?" he'd finished for her, his aura unconsciously flaring to life in that moment to wrap around her as he spoke, as if it'd had a mind of its own, as if claiming what it'd feared might be taken away. They had both immediately sensed it, and Inuyasha had chuckled, concentrating a brief moment to calm his spiritual energies and get his youki to go back down. "I guess it must have." he'd answered then, the truth of the matter being fairly obvious. "Though I had no idea that could happen. You're the trained miko." he'd added.

"I've never heard of a hanyou being able to heal a human like that before, but then again hanyou are so rare, and they've probably just never tried it. There are legends from centuries ago about some full-blooded youkai having that ability, and your youki is _so_ strong..."

Letting her words trail off for a moment, Kagome'd tilted her head in the other direction, in thought, and Inuyasha'd had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling again, that time at how cute she looked.

"There are a few ancient legends," she'd said then, "more myths now than anything else, that date back several centuries and speak of a few youkai who had taken human lovers, and those humans living throughout the centuries with their youkai partners." She'd thought about it some more, then shook her head. "But it's not like those people are actually here and introducing themselves, so there's really no way to know at this point if it's true or not." she'd concluded.

"Keh, if I were them I'd stay under the radar, too." had been Inuyasha's immediate reply, and Kagome had readily nodded her agreement.

Looking back on that day, there had been a few more incidents of Kagome getting very mildly injured since then – a paper cut here, a stubbed toe there – and every time Kagome had healed at nearly the same rate he himself would, or, like him, not even become injured in the first place. His aura was always flaring around her, whether he wanted it to or not, like it was continually bathing her with his spiritual energy, and every time he sensed his aura brushing up against her own he could also sense that her aura welcomed the sensation, welcoming him in. Before long they'd both come to the conclusion that Kagome had probably been benefiting from tying their souls together since day one, and they'd just never noticed because she hadn't gotten hurt before that mishap with the kitchen knife. If his youki was going to treat _aging _like injury, repairing damage done to her body on the cellular level, then it stood to reason that so long as she remained in his presence, and more importantly, slept bathed in the essence of his youki each night, that she'd age at the same rate he did. His youki simply wouldn't permit anything else.

It was just too bad that it was a fountain of youth normal humans couldn't cash in on. There were plenty of stories, some much too recent to be considered 'legends', of youkai possessing humans, and that's precisely what it was when a youkai engulfed an average human with their aura. They _possessed _them. But Kagome's reiki prevented that possibility, not that he was trying to take over her mind, anyway. He imagined that if a malevolent youkai tried to possess her that her aura would rise to form a barrier around herself and block the spell. But with him it was different, and it wasn't because he was half human, although that was what had allowed them to meet and he could never picture his life without Kagome in it and so he had _definitely_ found something to be grateful to his human heritage for, no longer lamenting that he'll never know his inu-youkai brethren because giving up Kagome would _not _be worth it. But it wasn't his human blood that had made their bond possible, it was the love they felt for each other. He imagined that once upon a time the spiritualist humans probably _had _tried to see if they could cash in on this benefit, for the 'good of mankind', but he'd bet dollars to donuts that it was nothing that could be forced with an unwilling demonic partner, and so that was why there were no _official _reports to state that such a happenstance was even possible. Kagome had made the wise decision to not tell her sensei, and while she eventually planned on telling her mother, she'd said she'd wait until the moment felt right.

Shaking his head to clear it of his wandering thoughts, Inuyasha brought his mind back into the here and now, as Kagome filled up another banker box with miscellaneous junk that was too important to be thrown away, while the actual trash, like bent paper clips, used up ballpoint pens and expired coupons, went into the waste bin by her side. How the trash had accumulated in those drawers in the first place was just one of those mysteries of life, but Kagome was bound and determine to start fresh in their new place.

Their home.

Regaining his crooked grin again at the thought, Inuyasha pulled Kagome from her concentration when he broke the silence by asking, "You want me to go grab some lunch while you do that?"

_Why the heck do we have this? _ Kagome thought, frowning at the inch-long pencil with depleted eraser she held before tossing it into the waste basket.

Looking up at her fiancé's question she replied with, "Sure, sounds good. Thanks."

They didn't have much in the way of food in their apartment at the moment, trying to keep it bare so that moving would be easier.

Inuyasha turned to head out but her voice stopped him.

"Don't forget your camera," she said; "you never know."

Amazed at himself that he actually _had _almost forgotten his camera, his mind that focused on his bride-to-be, he draped said device over his neck and then gave Kagome a kiss on the cheek.

"Woman, you make me forget my mind. All I can think about is you."

Kagome giggled.

"Well then it's a good thing all I can think about is you." she replied. "If you concentrate on me, and I concentrate on you, then we can look out for each other and maybe nobody else will notice that our heads are in the clouds."

"A much better place for my head to be than where I _used _to keep it."

She laughed more heartily that time.

"I guess we have those false allegations about Hitomi Watanabe to thank, when you think about it." she said. "If it weren't for that accidental collision of our auras while you were in such a frenzied state I never would've gotten that vision I just had to paint for you."

"And I never would have started to wonder if maybe you were nervous around me for a _good _reason, yeah." he finished for her. "Maybe I should send that tabloid a 'thank you' card." he joked, his eyes sparkling merrily.

She laughed again, and he grinned as well, before leaning in for another quick kiss, this time a peck on the lips.

"Be back soon." he said.

"I'll be here."

With that, Kagome got back to her current junk drawer, and with his camera around his neck – because you never knew when something camera-worthy just might happen – Inuyasha was out the door, on his way to Hungry Ninja Ramen.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

The next few weeks seemed to zip by, and as Halloween approached, Kagome had less about costumes on her mind than she did about card stock, font faces and mailing addresses. Already finished with answering all of the new 'Dear Kagome' questions on their website for that day, and having long ago sent all of her responses to the printed questions to Sango for inclusion in November's publication, Kagome snuck in a few minutes of free time on the Internet to narrow down her choices on possible wedding invitations.

On the one hand, she kind of thought something pearly white with a silvery sheen, to match Inuyasha's hair and heritage, would be a nice homage to him and fit the whole idea of her marrying a silver inu, but on the other hand, she'd previously always used to be partial to softer, off-white hues, and there were several ivory colored options that really stood out to her. She knew Inuyasha wasn't girlie in the slightest and probably didn't want anything _too_ foo-foo, but on the other hand, since when did the guy not let his future bride choose whatever the hell design she wanted, right? The miko knew she was thinking about it too much. Inuyasha had already _told_ her that she could pick whatever cards she wanted, so why was she trying so hard to choose something that _he'd _like? The fact of the matter was, he probably didn't care, and that wasn't to say that he didn't appreciate how important it was to _her_, he was just a guy, and guys didn't care about that sort of thing. Whatever she wanted really _was _fine with him.

So why was this so hard?

As if summoned by her anxiety, Inuyasha walked into the office in that moment, even though it was a Thursday and he previously would've been out in the field all day, trying to find a scandal. He'd changed his schedule over the last year, since he was salary and earned a flat annual pay no matter how many hours he clocked. While he'd previously used to come in for 9-5 shifts Monday and Tuesday, to go through all of the photos he'd taken the previous week and weekend and get to writing some of his articles, doing his work as he went along week by week so that he was always ready in time to send everything to print without having to do any last minute crams, he'd since changed things up because he couldn't always promise Kagome a quiet weekend at home, and so coming into the office a few hours each day so that they could see each other more often throughout the week was the best he could do to make up for it.

Fortunately, he'd always had the game plan of hunting during the day, as it were, never really being one for all-nighters like some of the paparazzi out there who'd pick a famous person and basically just stalk them all night long until they created a scandal themselves when that celebrity went off on the paparazzi for being in their face. Sure, if an event was going on, he'd go, most of the time, at least, although he usually stuck to the shadows and snapped his photos without being seen. Nobody knew he'd been there until his pictures showed up afterwards. Most nights, though, he'd always had the habit of staying in after dark, mainly to throw possible snoops off the trail of when his human night was. If he was always out every single night except for one night a month that'd make it rather obvious, not that he honestly thought he had any devout 'admirers' who were actually keeping tabs on such a thing; it was just the principle of the thing, and thanks to his pre-established habit, he and Kagome got to enjoy most nights in each other's company all night long.

Lately, he didn't even do as many day hunts as he'd used to. Over the last couple of years he had become more and more of a 'scandal corrector' rather than one of the people starting rumors in the first place. Although he'd _never _published a story that wasn't true, he most certainly was among the very few paparazzi who actually lived by such a moral code, and after what'd happened with Ms. Watanabe, slowly but surely more and more celebrities had sought him out, requesting a one-on-one to clear up some lie or another that'd been posted about them. Knowing he was a living lie detector, nobody _dared _try to take advantage of his reputation to claim something that _wasn't _true. More and more, Inuyasha was doing on-scene interviews, getting the exclusive scoops straight from the horses' mouths, rather than his previous 'Canine Phantom' persona of being somebody hiden in the shadows, ready to catch you at your most vulnerable.

That was why he'd been able to come into the office that afternoon, because after snapping a couple of good photos of an actress' horrible choice of dog-walking attire that morning he'd received a phone call from a young pop singer wanting his help to shut down the bogus rumor that he'd gotten his best friend's girlfriend pregnant. Yes, the three of them hung out all the time, and _yes _there were a few photos out there of him and his friend's girlfriend seemingly alone just the two of them – because his friend had somehow or another just not been there right when the photograph was taken – and _yes _she _was _pregnant, but the pop singer was adamant that he was _not _the father. Inuyasha's nose would not only be able to tell whether or not he was lying, but the woman in question was far enough along in her pregnancy now that he would also be able to tell by scent who the father was, and he had an appointment to meet with all three of them later that evening at the couple's beach house. That was why he'd come in, to let Kagome know he wouldn't be there when she got home.

"Hey, duty calls." was the miko's casual, understanding response after he explained the situation.

Kami, how he loved her.

"Hey, while you're here..." she spoke back up then, earning his attention as she gestured to her computer screen.

He chuckled.

"I already told you to pick whatever you wanted."

"But what do _you _want?" she stressed, adding, "And don't say you want whatever I want 'cause that's such a cop-out."

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"You didn't have any complaints when it was about our future _house_. Isn't that a tad bit more important than invitation stock?"

She had the good grace to look sheepish at that one, but he chuckled again before she could actually start feeling too guilty about it.

"I actually liked the house just fine, so relax. Believe me, if there had been something about it I hadn't liked, I _would _have said so."

Kagome knew that was true. He'd hated 'House #2' just as much as she had.

"Okay, well then can you at least tell me if you _dislike _any of these choices and _don't _want me to use one of them? Then I guess I can pick one from your 'that one's fine' pile."

He chuckled again, and gave the samples on the screen an honest look through. He was surprised by the stark contrast of some of them. He hadn't thought his miko was so eclectic.

"Why so many..._different _options? Looks to me like you can't even decide what _you _like."

She blushed mildly.

"I'm just torn between thinking a silvery white would be cool and maybe also more fitting, and my previous schoolgirl fantasies of a soft ivory with flowers everywhere."

His eyes softened, hearing all that he'd needed to.

"If you really want my opinion, Kagome, I say go with what you had originally wanted. Go with whatever matches the wedding fantasies of your schoolgirl days. This isn't about me, and honestly, I couldn't care less what the cards look like. If you were a biker chick then they could be black and red with accents of flames and skulls for all I cared."

Kagome snorted a laugh at that one, and he grinned lopsidedly.

"My point is I really do just want them to be whatever _you _want. Ivory with flowers is fine, I promise."

"Okay, I believe you." Kagome replied, tilting her head back in her computer chair to greet his descent as he bowed down from his place standing beside her to capture her lips in a quick kiss.

Telling her that he'd call when he was on his way home, he headed back out of the office, then, deciding to kill the next couple of hours before his appointment by doing a quick once-over of the city, just on the off chance that somebody somewhere might be doing something (or someone) they shouldn't be.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Halloween came and went, and before the couple knew it, their wedding was less than two months away, and Kagome, as well as her mother, and Sango, and Rin, were all in frantic 'get it done!' mode. Making sure a shrine was available on Christmas Eve hadn't been a problem, since they'd booked Miroku's family temple, his uncle Mushin set to perform the ceremony, himself, but even with that one worry eliminated there was still a _lot _to plan and confirm. So much so in fact that Sango had put Miroku in charge of that year's office Christmas party, and specifically the Secret Santa gift exchange.

Another reason why Kagome was scrambling to get everything done now, in November; she'd need the last couple of weeks before the party to concentrate on making her Secret Santa gift recipient his or her special pencil sketch. She had no intention of cheating whomever she picked in the name draw just because her mind and priorities were elsewhere.

"You look like you could use a distraction." came Inuyasha's voice as her husband-to-be entered the room, Kagome looking up from her collection of sprawled out wedding-related magazines and catalogs on the coffee table to reach for whatever the printed piece of paper was that her fiancé was handing her.

Turned out to be a proof draft of what would be his 'Halloween: the after party' article in their upcoming December issue. She snorted in amusement at the reminder. The November issue had already been printed by Halloween night, of course, and so any such 'treasures' as she and her hanyou lover had stumbled upon that night had to wait until December to be shared with the public.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, since it'd been on their website since November 1st, and plenty of people had been Tweeting about it, but it was still print worthy all the same.

They had gone out clubbing Halloween night, the second year in a row of what Kagome hoped would become a long-standing tradition for the two of them. Kagome had always gone out on Halloween night before, of course, but Inuyasha had been a Halloween recluse, until finally allowing his miko to pull him from his shell. He had always gone out for 'business' reasons, of course, but he'd kept to the shadows, watching the streets from the rooftops. He hadn't wanted to have anything to do with the holiday and the _only _reason he'd been out and about was because the paparazzo in him had recognized how stupid it would have been of him to _not _go out with his camera on that night.

Looking back on it, he couldn't really say he knew where his bitterness towards the holiday had even come from. As a child he'd _loved _Halloween. His one night of the year to be 'normal' – not counting his human nights. But he'd known even as a small boy that he couldn't ever go out of the house on _that _night, that he couldn't ever let anybody see him as a human. Sure, there was really no law or code that said a hanyou couldn't let their human time be public knowledge, but it was imbedded in a hanyou's youkai instinct to keep such a weakness secret. So Halloween night had been his annual night of _safe _normalcy. Dressed head to toe in whatever flavor of the month costume had tickled his youthful fancy, making sure it had included either a wig or full-headed mask, and gloves to conceal his claws, had always guaranteed the hanyou boy that none of the other children or parents were aware of what he was. Izayoi had driven Inuyasha out of the city on those nights, into a small suburban neighborhood where nobody knew them. Where nobody would recognize _her _and then realize who and what _he _was because of who his mother was.

He supposed he'd developed his bitterness towards the holiday gradually, during his young adult life, because of his early career move as a salaried paparazzo for Shikon Weekly. It'd forced him from day one to go out on Halloween night, with his camera, and those first couple of Halloweens had seen him be the butt of a few other paparazzi's jokes. Most people thought it was 'clever' to compliment his 'hanyou costume' before feigning a shocked exclamation as they'd apologize, saying they hadn't realized it was actually him. Yeah right.

That was all water under the bridge, though, and even though the smells and noise of a nightclub still bothered his senses he had gladly made the exception for Kagome's sake, for her love of the holiday. It had turned out to be a _very _good thing they were there.

Kagome snickered as she admired for the second time the photographs that Inuyasha had managed to capture that night, so very grateful that she'd relented and let him keep his camera draped around his neck despite the fact that it hadn't complimented his costume as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, she herself dressed as Alice to match, of course. What could she say? She was a sucker for matching costumes, and he hadn't minded, stating with a chuckle that the hat would protect his ears somewhat. It'd been a good costume choice, and despite the fact that a camera had substituted for a pocket watch, that had been a very good thing, indeed, as he'd whipped it out before she'd even realized what was happening.

The pictures were of a completely plastered A-lister, her costume unrecognizable as in the first picture she's twirling her shirt over her head like a lasso, a club security guard approaching in the background. The Internet was full of out of focus, poor quality versions of this first image, since in our modern age of cell phone cameras and social media everyone had become a paparazzi of sorts, but Inuaysha's professional camera had by far taken the highest quality pictures, and since he _was _paparazzi, instead of just a wannabe, he had followed when the security guard had tried to get the topless actress into a corner of the room and get her to put her shirt back on. That had failed, and she'd started dancing against the guard – he had a picture of that, too. This action had of course led to the actress finally being escorted from the club, still topless since she'd just _refused _to put her shirt back on, and he had a picture of _that, _too. He hadn't even been hiding. He'd been standing in plain sight snapping photo after photo, and the last one was of the still topless actress flipping him the bird.

Oh yes, Inuyasha had definitely gotten over his temporary dislike of Halloween.

Although Christmas was still his favorite holiday, and always would be.

"Cute." Kagome said then, pulling him from his thoughts as she handed him back the proof. "I like it."

That said, she got back to work, her attention once again focused on the array of magazines spread out before her. She still had to pick out the flowers, and the place settings for the reception, not to mention her _dress_; there was still so much to do. At least the invitations had been ordered; they were scheduled for delivery within the next couple of days.

"Here..." she said, scooting over on the couch to make room for Inuyasha to sit down beside her, as she'd previously been more or less in the center of the sofa. "What do you think?" she asked, gesturing to the different types of place settings available for rent in one of her catalogs.

Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha knew better than to try telling her to just pick whatever she wanted, as he took a seat beside her and honestly thought over the choices.

"How about this set?" he asked after a moment, gesturing to a collection of dishes that were primarily bright white, but featured a border of ivory colored flowers. "I know a part of you wanted a pop of silvery white, and this way you'll have that, so it's not ivory, ivory, ivory, and then suddenly your dress and my hair are the only white things at the wedding, but neither will the invitations be the only ivory things, like say if we went all white from here on out. You could use ivory table cloths and white napkins, for example. These dishes would tie the two colors together, and then maybe do a mix of white and off-white flowers for even more balance."

Kagome absolutely beamed at him at his words, and Inuyasha felt his cheeks heating up under the intensity of her gaze.

"Or...whatever, I don't care." he tried to add at the end, failing miserably.

"Ha! I _knew _you cared!"

He offered her a silly smile then, reaching over to cup her chin with his hand as he leaned forward for a gentle kiss.

"Of course I care, I care about _you_, but you wanted my opinion and so now you have it. But I won't be upset or disappointed if you choose different dishes. All that matters to me is your happiness."

"I actually think you made the perfect choice, so we will go with those dishes." she said. "I don't want to be one of those brides who takes over everything, all 'me, me, me'. This is _our _special day, not just _mine_, and it's not fair to think 'happy wife, happy life' like all a guy is good for is agreeing with his woman to keep the peace."

"No..." he agreed, his sweet smile turning into a mischievous smirk. "That's definitely not _all _I'm good for."

That said, he leaned over and slowly pushed Kagome down on the sofa, engaging her in a kiss that was far more than a simple peck, and for the next half hour or so she completely forgot all about her magazines.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Watching his soon-to-be wife work, as she sat once again on the infamous sofa, two different sizes of cards and envelopes stacked on the coffee table to her left, a roll of return address labels and a book of stamps to her right, Inuyasha grinned lopsidedly at the way her tongue would poke out from between her lips as she concentrated on her calligraphy, writing each recipient's name and address by hand before placing each completed invitation in another neat stack to the right. It was a slow going but very efficient production line. Kagome wasn't necessarily a neat freak, he knew, but she most definitely wasn't a slob, either. She wasn't completely obsessed with the rule 'a place for everything and everything in its place' and never snapped at him over stupid shit like leaving his toothbrush on the sink, but she would clean up after him when he did, and it was one of the many, _many_ things he loved about her. To watch her handle this task with such care, it showed him how important to her it really was, not that he disagreed; inviting their friends to their wedding _was _important. He'd never thought that he'd ever _have _a wedding, let alone friends to invite to one, but looking at how many completed invitations Kagome already had stacked beside her, it slowly dawned on the hanyou that he wasn't alone any longer, and he owed it all to the miko sitting before him.

Feeling the intensity of his gaze upon her, as she could sense the emotional changes within him as his simple amusement shifted into a feeling of awe, something she'd gotten used to sensing within him from time to time that always made her feel humbled every time because to her, he was _her _miracle, Kagome decided to take a small break in that moment and looked up to greet her future husband with a warm smile. A smile that didn't _quite _reach her eyes, and instantly, he could sense that something was off.

Seeing the look in his eyes turn to concern, Kagome dropped her smile in favor of biting her lower lip in worry. She'd been putting it off, but there was no time like the present.

"Inuyasha, I...I've been thinking..." she started hesitantly.

The scent of her sudden nervousness gave him pause, as Inuyasha met his fiancée's eyes, her apprehension clear in not only her scent but also her body language.

"Whatever you're afraid to tell me, just say it." he said, trying and failing to mask his own growing worry. "I promise I won't get upset." He refused to jump to conclusions, but if she'd had his ears she would have heard how frantically his heart was racing.

Realizing her nervousness had made him nervous in turn, Kagome offered him a warm, reassuring smile, this one much more genuine, as she scooted over and gestured for him to have a seat beside her on the sofa again, which he did.

"It's nothing bad, not really." she assured him, reaching over and resting her hand on his arm.

He relaxed somewhat at her words but still looked unsure.

"Then what is it?"

Looking down and fiddling nervously with her hands in her lap, she said, "I was just thinking...I'd like to invite your family to the wedding."

He recoiled, for a moment looking slapped by her words, before realizing that she knew damn well how he felt about his human relatives and that he should hear her out. She had better have a good reason.

"Why?" he asked then, his voice hard. "You know what a total bitch my aunt is, and my grandparents certainly never stepped in to help. They were relieved their other daughter had taken in the freak so they didn't have to. Even her own daughters, my cousins, never came around, and I'd hear their phone conversations about how it was only until my eighteenth birthday and they'd never have to worry about me ever again. My aunt knew I knew that my days under her roof were numbered, her wanting me out of there as soon as possible, and she also knew the feeling was mutual. I think she went out of her way to let me know how she really felt to make sure I wouldn't _want_ to stay, gladly leaving on eviction day instead of putting up a fight about it. The only reason I didn't run away before my eighteenth birthday was because I needed free room and board for as long as possible to save all my money, and I couldn't just stay out on the streets like a homeless person because of my human nights. I pretty much _was_ homeless except I'd slink in through my window at night and at least try to enjoy sleeping in a real bed, taking advantage of having a bathroom at my disposal, even though she always sprayed so much damn Lysol it burned my nose."

Taking a break to catch his breath, Inuyasha belatedly realized that he'd asked Kagome for her explanation before immediately going off on a tangent, not letting her get a word in edgewise.

"Sorry..." he apologized sheepishly then, his ears lowering cutely to his head. "You know all that crap already, so I'll shut up. Tell me why you want to invite them."

"I...I just think," she began hesitantly, a sympathetic, understanding smile on her lips, "that inviting them is the right thing to do, you know? I think not inviting them would be a huge snub, basically telling them they're not wanted."

"They _aren't_ wanted." Inuyasha argued, adding, "Besides, it's not like any of them would even show up, anyway."

"Maybe so." Kagome relented, "But in my book, you inviting them makes you the better man. If they don't show up, that's their problem."

Seeing his hesitance, her eyes softened and she reached forward again, placing her hand back on his arm.

"If you really, really don't want them there, then never mind. I would hate for them to actually come if it'd make you completely miserable if they did, if their presence would ruin our special day for you. I didn't think of inviting them as just a trick to make you look good, knowing they won't show up; that'd be a really stupid gamble because then if they _did _show it'd call our bluff. That wasn't what I was thinking of doing. I just thought that, maybe, at least for the one day that is supposed to bring our two families together, maybe we could not dwell on the past and accept your family because they _are _your family, and in the end that's all that matters."

"I suppose..." he started slowly, "that it wouldn't hurt to throw my happiness in their faces. To at least let them _know _I'm getting married, that I'm not the worthless hybrid freak they thought I was. I don't think any of them, including my aunt, are manipulative enough to come to the wedding on purpose in an attempt to upset me with their presence, if they assumed I didn't really want them there and that the invitation was _only _to rub it in their faces. Especially my aunt. I can guarantee you that she won't go; she'd never be able to be in my presence for that long. And the fact that I'm happy, that I'm getting married, that'll probably piss her off 'cause she's one of those people who feel hanyou don't even deserve to live, let alone be happy."

His eyes began sparkling in merriment the more he thought about it, and he actually chuckled a little, before turning to meet Kagome's eyes reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'm not suddenly thinking of all these twisted ways to stick it to her to get back at her for being such a bitch. I _have _put the past behind me; it was just an amusing thought. But maybe you're right. An olive branch of sorts, then." he said, nodding. "The invitations, they'll be like a test. If anybody, maybe my grandmother or one of my cousins, actually wants to leave the past in the past and be decent to me, then I'll be decent back. If nobody replies, well then fuck 'em. They can go back to rotting in hell for all I care."

Kagome knew that was the best reaction she could've hoped for, having feared that he was going to outright refuse. She knew the hatred he felt for his aunt was genuine, but from what she could sense from him on the very rare occasions they'd discussed it, he felt more hurt by his grandparents' abandonment than angry with them over it. He'd told her once, only once, of his mother's funeral, and a silent moment he and his grandmother had shared when they'd locked gazes from across the room. Her scent...it'd smelled of remorse and regret. He'd pleaded with his eyes for her to tell him _why_, why everything, but she hadn't said anything, turning and walking away at her husband's call. His grandfather...he had stank of disdain at the funeral. Inuyasha had told Kagome that at the time he'd almost felt like the man would have cast blame on him for his mother's death if it weren't for the fact that they'd already known it was a genetic condition. After her diagnosis his mother had told him how her aunt, his grandmother's sister, had died from the same thing, and that his great-grandmother had died early from it as well. He had tried so very hard to keep her life as free from stress as possible, but how stress-free could the single mother of a hanyou's life possibly be? That she had lived to see his seventeenth birthday...she had actually lived longer than her doctors had predicted.

Shaking her head to bring her thoughts back into the here and now, Kagome offered her fiancé a reassuring smile when he met her gaze with a concerned look in his golden orbs, Inuyasha clearly having scented the way her mood had plummeted.

"I'm fine...my mind just wandered for a minute into a sad place."

"Keh." he replied then. "Bet I can guess what you were thinking. Another reason I don't like thinking about the past, it makes me sad. _You _make me _happy_. I'd much rather think about our future than my past; I'd much rather be happy."

"If...if you just want to let it go and not contact any of them-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"No...no you were right. It'd be rude to not invite them. We _should _invite them, and then let them be the ones to decide whether or not they want to be rude and not reply, or whether they'd actually like to make amends. I've sure as hell got nothing to apologize for, but maybe they're afraid, or maybe they think I don't want to hear from them, which _had _been true. But if, just on the off chance that somebody, any of them, actually feel guilty and have wanted to make amends but have been afraid to contact me, well then this'll give them the perfect opportunity, and I promise that if anybody, even my aunt, wants to apologize and start over, that I'll give it a genuine effort."

Beaming happily and proudly at her future husband, Kagome leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tender embrace.

"I'm so proud of you." she whispered into the side of his neck, before stretching her head up to capture his lips with her own.

He waggled his eyebrows at her once she sat back and asked her with a playful edge to his voice, "Oh yeah? How proud?"

Chuckling before smirking seductively, it was Kagome's turn to crawl over her fiancé as she pushed _him _to lie down flat on the couch.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Coming back inside with the mail in his hands, Hideyoshi Takahashi sorted through the collection of envelopes he held, and heading into the den he put the bills in the bill holder and tossed the junk mail into the waste basket, before studying for a moment longer the final envelope he still held in his hand. The one that was an ivory colored 5x7 with floral embossing on the flap, and had the recipient's name and address hand written with a black calligraphy pen. The gold foil return address label in the corner only bore the last name Takahashi, and an address he was unfamiliar with.

"Hey, Kimiko," he called into the kitchen, "Takako hasn't gone back to her maiden name, has she?"

Wiping her hands off on her apron as she exited the kitchen to join her husband in the den, Kimiko Takahashi had a look of confusion on her face.

"I don't think so. She hasn't told me anything about it. Why?"

"Because we received this in the mail." he answered, handing her the envelope as she came up beside him.

Looking it over, Kimiko shook her head. "It'd be a dream come true if she'd learn to be this proper." she said. "You know she only puts 'Mom and Dad' on our Christmas cards."

_Mr. & Mrs. Takahashi_... she read silently to herself, noting the identical family name on the return label and also wondering just who it could be from since their daughter still went by her ex-husband's last name, as far as Kimiko knew, at least.

"This almost looks like a wedding invitation." Kimiko said, as she began opening the envelope. "But it can't be from either of the girls." she added as an afterthought, referring to their two granddaughters, both of whom also possessed their father's last name, and neither of whom were currently in a serious relationship.

She paused in her opening, looking up to meet her husband's eyes.

"You don't suppose..." she said, letting her words trail off.

Hideyoshi snorted, a look of incredulous disbelief in his eyes.

"I thought you said it was a wedding invitation." he pointed out sarcastically. "There's no way that...that..."

He too didn't finish his sentence, and frowning a little at her husband's response, Kimiko silently resumed solving the mystery. Pulling the card from the envelope revealed that it was indeed a wedding invitation. It was ivory, matching the envelope it'd come in, with an embossed floral border, and in raised, black script in the center, it read:

With Heartfelt Joy

Inuyasha Takahashi

and

Kagome Higurashi

Hereby Invite You

To Join in the Celebration

Of Their Wedding Day

Below that the RSVP instructions were given, as well as the date, time and location of the ceremony, a little RSVP card with postage-paid envelope included. Kimiko stared wordlessly at the invitation first in bafflement and disbelief, until slowly but surely a humbled sense of guilt started to weigh heavily on her heart.

"Oh, kami..." she finally murmured, her shell-shocked expression causing her husband to wrench the card from her hand and read it for himself, his eyes widening so big that his eyebrows completely vanished behind his bangs.

"Who...who would actually want to marry him?" Hideyoshi finally said after what seemed like an eternity of silence between he and his wife.

"And why would he send us an invitation?" Kimiko asked in reply, baffled once more. She was about to say something else, but as she opened her mouth to speak the phone rang, and snapping out of the semi-trance she'd been in she rushed into the living room to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Mom, it's me_._" _Takako said, sounding none too pleased. _"Have you guys checked your mail yet?" _

"So I take it you received an invitation as well?" Kimiko asked her daughter in return as way of answer.

"_Can you believe this shit?"_ Takako said then, making her elderly mother mentally cringe at her poor choice of language. _"Just what the hell does that freak of nature think he's doing?" _she asked, not waiting for her mother's answer.

_Inviting us to his wedding, it looks like_... had been Kimiko's thought, which remained unvoiced as her sole surviving daughter continued to rant and rave.

"_I mean, he can't possibly think we actually want to go_..._" _she said, _"And you know there's no way in all the hells he actually wants us there, anyway, so what's the deal?" _Again, she didn't let her mother answer. _"I bet the whole thing is just to shove it in our faces, him trying to pretend that he's better than us, letting bygones be bygones_. _He knows we won't go, and so him sending us the invite makes him look like the better man_. _I would go just 'cause I know he doesn't want me there, but in the end I think I'd be more miserable than him and I am __not__ ruining my daughters' Christmas by asking them to attend such a freak show_. _I bet he picked Christmas Eve on purpose, just to doubly make sure we wouldn't attend, so he can sigh a breath of relief because I am __not__ RSVP-ing, the freak_._"_

_I wonder how many times she called him a freak to his face while he was living with her_ ... Kimiko thought in passing as she mentally sighed and let her daughter continue to vent uninterrupted.

Kimiko would have taken Inuyasha in herself all those years ago, but her husband had been adamantly against it at the time, his feelings about humans and youkai intermixing being a bit more negative than her own. Sure, she had been disappointed in Izayoi – very disappointed, in fact – that she had allowed herself to have a tryst with a forest beast, but what was done was done, and no matter what, Izayoi was her daughter and Kimiko had loved her very dearly. She had actually been proud of the way Izayoi had successfully raised her son. Already having been living on her own in a small apartment, abortion had never once crossed her mind, Izayoi having been bound and determined to live with the consequences of her actions. Her love for the inu-youkai had been genuine, Kimiko knew, and so from a woman's perspective, even though she couldn't fathom falling in love with a monster and the idea of bedding with one made her skin crawl, she could still understand why her daughter had wanted to keep the baby. That she had made it work, getting a second job out of the house processing mail orders in order to afford a baby-sitter during the day as she worked her job as a waitress, depriving herself of sleep even more than a new baby already did to stay up stuffing envelopes, Kimiko had admired Izayoi's drive and devotion. She would have helped her out, but Hideyoshi was in charge of the checkbook, and he'd been much more stubborn back then. They had kept in touch, though, she and her daughter, and had things gotten _too _bad she would have found a way to help them out. Izayoi hadn't needed the help; she'd been a trouper, wanting to prove it to her father that she hadn't ruined her life, as he'd claimed.

Things had gotten easier for Izayoi, Kimiko knew, once Inuyasha had been old enough for school, and despite all the looks, all the ridicule Kimiko imagined her daughter must have received taking her hanyou son to and from class, she had not avoided the problem by enrolling him in home schooling, instead. Perhaps it'd been because she'd needed the reprieve in order to still work days as a waitress, or perhaps she'd known that she needed to prepare Inuyasha early on for the real world, but whatever the case, Kimiko knew that her daughter had kept food on the table and, from what little she'd heard from Takako after Izayoi's untimely passing, Inuyasha had been a good student and a relatively quiet teenager. He hadn't been the trouble maker you would assume he had been from the number of times Takako had called home to bitch about him.

He had been quiet, stayed out of trouble, and half the time wasn't even at home, and yet to hear Takako tell it the very fact that a being of demonic blood legally called her residence home had been the world's most unfair burden. Kimiko remembered how she'd had to practically beg her surviving daughter to take Inuyasha in, expressing that he _was _family, whether they liked it or not. She had promised a hospital-bound Izayoi, during a quiet mother-daughter moment, that she wouldn't let anything happen to Inuyasha, that all her hard work raising him wouldn't have been for nothing, for him to disappear as a child in 'the system' so close to adulthood. She had promised her dying daughter that the boy would be looked after, and if Takako had straight out refused then Kimiko had been prepared to defy her husband and bring the hanyou boy home regardless of his wishes, but Takako had fortunately complied, sparing her that headache.

Looking back on it, she wasn't sure if dealing with her husband would have actually been a bigger headache than listening to Takako's complaining had turned out to be. She sighed.

Kimiko knew Takako had more or less kicked the poor boy out of the house on his eighteenth birthday, although at least he legally _had _been an adult and so her vow to Izayoi had been met. She also knew that Inuyasha had known that day was coming and had been trying his best to prepare, since Takako had shared with her plenty of times how she'd made sure 'that hanyou' _knew _his days under her roof were numbered. Kimiko had always wondered what had become of him after that. She knew he'd had a part-time busboy job at the same restaurant where his mother had worked, but she also knew he'd stopped working there not long after, and she'd pretty much lost tabs on him after that. She'd wondered what he'd done with himself, but only silently to herself, telling herself it was just mild curiosity, because he was a subject she and her husband most definitely did _not _discuss openly. Kimiko hadn't honestly even known if he was still alive until a couple of years ago, when out of the blue there he was, on the six o'clock news, clearing up a scandal about some actress or another who had been accused of being a kitsune in disguise. Honestly, they weren't into pop culture, and she'd never once picked up a single copy of Shikon Weekly in her life, but to see Inuyasha standing alongside that other man, a houshi no less, who had been introduced as the producer of the publication, and to hear it told that he himself was a well-known photographer and writer for the magazine as well, and to realize just what he was actually doing for the benefit of that actress, to save her reputation...even though Kimiko wasn't into pop culture and never paid any attention to the entertainment gossip shows or magazines, she had felt a wave of pride in that moment to know that he had actually risen above the odds to make something of himself. Izayoi would've been proud.

Hideyoshi hadn't said much at the time; they'd shared a look when Inuyasha had come on the news and his exact words had been, "Huh. Wouldn't have guessed that. Good for him, I guess."

It had been a _much_ more positive reaction, Kimiko noted, than the almost hysterical phone call she had received from Takako about the kind of world they lived in those days, as she'd bitterly complained that his appearance on the news, giving his last name, had been airing their family's dirty laundry all over national TV. Kimiko hadn't bothered to point out the fact that they were not the _only _family with the last name Takahashi, or that they themselves were in no way famous enough that they were actually susceptible to any sort of scandal like her daughter had been imagining. It was as if she'd feared coworkers hounding her the next day about whether or not there really was a hanyou in the family, not that most people were aware of a female coworker's maiden name, but that was too logical a thought to have occurred to Takako at the time. At the time, Kimiko had wondered if that might've been one of the reasons why, even after their bitter divorce, which had predated Izayoi's death, Takako had chosen to retain her ex-husband's last name. She probably had no desire to share such a family connection to 'the hanyou' if she could help it.

Coming back to reality in that moment, as she listened to her daughter continue to complain about receiving an invitation to his wedding, as if being asked to attend his pending nuptials was the world's greatest insult to their family, Kimiko found herself questioning just how much of a mastermind manipulation scheme it actually was, as Takako clearly believed, and whether or not the invitation was actually legitimate. Maybe he _was_ trying to let bygones be bygones. After all, they _were_ family.

Finally sensing a pending opportunity to speak, Kimiko jumped at the chance when Takako took a quick pause to sigh in a show of her emotional distress.

"If you and the girls don't want to attend then I am certain you are in no way obligated to do so. I'm sure you're right, that he probably correctly assumed you don't want to go and isn't really expecting you there, although maybe he just sent the invitation to be polite rather than to spite us. And besides," she quickly continued, before Takako could argue the case, "you know sending out wedding invitations is never really the guy's thing. I'll bet it's his future bride who put him up to it, insisting that we were all invited."

Her wisdom from age telling her she was probably correct on that one, Kimiko hadn't predicted the fallout that would come from mentioning the mystery woman who was apparently to wed the unwanted black sheep of their family. Takako spent the next several minutes ranting about what a lunatic the woman had to be, to be willing to marry a hanyou in the first place, and that she was _clearly _one of those deranged youkai fetish freaks and that she was probably also in it for the money, since Takako begrugingly acknowledged that Inuyasha probably did pretty well for himself financially, working for the magazine and all. A hanyou with money had probably made dollar signs appear in the slut's eyes, according to Takako's version of events, and of course Inuyasha _had_ to be so very lonely and desperate that he was willing to marry any woman willing to fuck him.

Cringing once again at her daughter's choice of language, Kimiko thankfully managed to get Takako off the phone only a few short minutes later, and even more thankfully, her daughter never picked up on the way she'd said that she and the girls didn't have to attend the wedding, deliberately _not _saying that she and her husband also would not. She still had to discuss it with Hideyoshi, of course, but in her mind, Kimiko had completely forgiven her late daughter for her indiscretion when it'd become apparent that Izayoi wouldn't pull through. It wasn't good to hold onto bad blood in your heart against a deceased loved one, after all. And she remembered Inuyasha from the funeral. That boy had loved his mother dearly, his sadness at her passing palpable, but Kimiko distinctly remembered that when their eyes had met, he had not returned her gaze with one of hatred, disgust or resentment. His eyes had remained sad, perhaps with a bit of confusion and longing thrown in. He'd hardly been a small child at the age of seventeen, and he had known very well that he was an unwanted member of the family; she could only imagine how many whispers those ears of his had picked up. But the way he'd looked at her had been as if he'd wished things had been different between them, rather than holding onto a grudge. If he was willing now to try and at least pretend that the past was in the past, to have his family members present on his wedding day, then Kimiko knew she was willing to attend. Even though she did believe the fiancée must have had a hand in sending them the invitation she did not believe it was something the woman who loved him would have done behind his back. He must have consented, she was sure, which meant it wasn't as if he strongly did _not _want them there and that their presence _would_ ruin his special day. If he hated them that badly then surely they would not have received an invitation; there was no way he would have risked it just to spite them in some kind of manipulation game like Takako believed. Kimiko felt this was his olive branch, and she wanted to accept it.

"Boy, can that girl talk." Hideyoshi said as he entered the living room, pulling Kimiko from her thoughts.

"You've got no idea." was her reply, as she moved over to the couch and sat down, patting the cushion beside her while giving her husband an expectant look.

It was Hideyoshi's turn to sigh, but he complied none the less, having a seat beside his wife.

They both remained silent for the next thirty seconds or so, until he was the one to speak first.

"I suppose you want to go." he said, his tone bordering on unreadable, but they had been married for over fifty years and she knew how to read him very well indeed.

"I think we owe him at least that much."

Hideyoshi sighed again.

"We owe _Izayoi _at least that much." she added, and her husband closed his eyes, breathing slowly through his nose.

"I guess the times are changing..." he spoke back up after a moment, in that tone of voice old men who did not like change tended to use.

In the last decade alone one of the most predominant, anti-hanyou politicians had reversed his position when his own daughter became impregnated by a youkai lover. In one city, there was even a hanyou police officer, who had been praised on the news several times for the triumphs that she would not have been able to achieve were it not for her demonic abilities. Hanyou had acquired 'human rights' long ago, Hideyoshi knew, but that didn't mean the world welcomed them with open arms, and they were so few and far between that _most _people went their entire lives without ever interacting with one. But...he sighed again..._he _had a hanyou grandson. Perhaps it was time to stop pretending that he didn't.

"I suppose you don't want to just RSVP, either." he stated then.

He knew his wife very well, too.

"At this point, I don't even think a phone call would cut it."

oooOooo

Watching their evening shows, Kagome was snuggled up on the couch, leaning against Inuyasha's side, his arm wrapped around her side, when suddenly his entire body stiffened, as if on high alert. Immediately on edge herself from his unexpected change in demeanor, Kagome practically sprung away from her fiancé's side as she asked him in a low whisper, "What's wrong?"

With both of his ears trained on the front door, he shifted his eyes to glance Kagome's way and replied with an astounded, "I don't fucking believe it."

"What?"

"We're about to have company." he explained, and as realization dawned, her eyes growing huge, he nodded to confirm she was right.

She opened her mouth to say something else but just then there was a knock on the door. It sounded hesitant, if a knocking sound could express emotion. Closing her eyes and stretching her miko senses, Kagome was accosted with the sensation of nervousness. There were two people on the other side of the door, who were both feeling nervous. They had very few friends that ever dropped by unannounced, and none of _them _would be feeling that way, plus she knew Inuyasha could smell through the door and wouldn't have acted that way if it were any of their friends. There was only one possible explanation.

Sharing a silent look with Inuyasha, and knowing she was right by the look in his eyes, Kagome turned off the TV, knowing that this was far more important than some stupid shows and that their DVR was recording them, anyway. They could watch them later. Getting up off the couch, then, she started to head for the door, pausing and turning to glance over her shoulder at Inuyasha, who gave her a curt nod in reply as he rose to his feet as well, coming up beside her. Together, they made their way to the door, just as another soft knock sounded from the other side.

"Coming!" Kagome called out as a courtesy, then, as she reached the door and gave her fiancé one more look.

Inuyasha came up behind her, and nodded. Kagome could easily sense his own nervousness, although it wasn't as great as that from the two people behind the door. He took a deep breath, then met her eyes and said "Let's not keep them waiting."

Nodding herself, she opened the door.

Standing on the other side were two people whom Kagome correctly presumed must be Inuyasha's grandparents, based on their appearance. The woman had a nervous but hopeful smile, while the gentleman standing partly behind and beside her had a harder set to his jaw, as if expecting rejection, but Kagome could see the resolve in his eyes, the remorse. They both appeared to be in their mid seventies, and the miko didn't need her sixth sense or her fiancé's canine instincts to recognize the way they both proverbially had their tails between their legs. She could only hypothesize, but at their age she guessed they were done clinging onto their outdated ideals. They were ready to join a more modern, liberal society, for the sake of no longer ostracizing their grandson. Their daughter was notably absent, the 'bitchy aunt' as Inuyasha referred to her perhaps not yet ready to make amends, but at least his grandparents were, and the feeling of amazement and gratitude she could feel coming off of her future husband in waves made the miko ever so grateful that she'd braved the topic of inviting them to the wedding.

Little did she know the 'bitchy aunt's' absence was a subject also currently on the grandmother's mind, at least in part. Kagome was aware of the fact that she was being inspected, but she kept her smile firmly in place, her aura at peace. It was only natural that her future husband's grandmother would want to know what kind of a woman her grandson was about to marry.

Remaining silent when the door first opened, unsure of what to say, the first thing Kimiko'd noticed was how sweet and kind looking the young woman greeting them appeared to be. Not that she'd actually believed Takako's hype about what kind of a woman Inuyasha just _had_ to be marrying, but she honestly hadn't known _what_ to expect. She was so very relieved to find a normal-looking young woman smiling up at her. She had been prepared to swallow her pride and apologize to her grandson for her previous neglect no matter if the woman had been covered in tattoos and piercings, wore a dog collar or had colored streaks in her hair, or _whatever _her daughter thought a 'youkai fetish whore' would look like, but she was relieved to find the girl seemingly normal, and there was no way that smile was fake. Even if she were a lady on the streets, 'youkai freak' between the sheets, that was none of her business, Kimiko knew. She was happy that Inuyasha was marrying a sweet young girl, instead of tying himself down to some horrible excuse of humanity, thinking that he had to settle for whatever he could get. _All _sorts of possibilities had ran through her mind; the woman could have been a too-thin druggie, or a 500lb blob, or even another hanyou, although _that_ wouldn't have bothered her any. At this point in time, she was ready to adopt the global viewpoint at large and accept hanyou as humans. It wasn't Inuyasha's fault he'd been born, after all, so why punish him for it?

Before the situation could become too awkward, the four of them standing there in complete silence, Inuyasha was actually the one who spoke first in that moment, nodding his head with a neutral acknowledgment of "Obaasan, Ojiisan."

"Inuyasha..." Kimiko said then, her voice breathy. "I...I don't..."

Eyes softening, the hanyou decided to take pity on his grandmother. "Feh." he said, turning halfway with a motioning jerk of his head. "Get in here already, no sense standing in the doorway all night."

With that, both Inuyasha and Kagome made way for the elderly couple, who silently complied as they entered, Kimiko giving Kagome a friendly look back as she passed before moving her gaze to meet her grandson's, the look in her eyes both apologetic and thankful.

"I'm Kagome," the miko said in introduction after shutting the door, "it's so nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Kimiko replied as she and Kagome shook hands, Kimiko clasping Kagome's right hand with both of her own as she patted the top of the miko's hand with her left, a look of gratitude in the older woman's eyes that matched the emotions Kagome could feel radiating from her.

Hideyoshi kept himself more reserved, his expression hard to decipher, but she could tell that he wasn't quite as nervous as he'd been before Inuyasha's invitation to come inside.

"My name's Kimiko, but I suppose pretty soon you'll be calling me 'Obaasan'." Kimiko said then, finally releasing Kagome's hand, her smile growing a little wider, a little more confident.

"I'd like that." Kagome replied, smiling brightly, as she briefly shifted her gaze to meet Inuyasha's grandfather.

He took his cue.

"Hideyoshi." he said then, shaking her hand as well, although his handshake was more formal and over much quicker. His wall was coming down brick by brick, but he was being more cautious about it than his wife, who'd already kicked her way through her wall to expose herself to vulnerability before they'd even opened the door.

"But I guess...yeah, if she's going to be 'Obaasan', I should be 'Ojiisan', too." he added before anyone else could say anything in the couple of seconds of silence.

Another brick.

"I'd like that, too." Kagome replied in a soft, sincere tone.

Kimiko and Hideyoshi both took a moment, then, to glance around the small but nicely decorated apartment, Kagome's portrait of Inuyasha from two Christmases prior impossible to miss as it hung front and center on their main living room wall. Kagome wasn't sure what they might have been expecting, but she was glad that they were taking in the fact that she and Inuyasha lived a perfectly normal, comfortable life.

Kimiko's eyes did one more sweep over of the entire room, lingering on the portrait of her grandson for a few silent moments, and then turning her eyes back to the living, breathing version of her grandson, she did her best to swallow the lump in her throat that was suddenly making speaking very difficult.

"Inuyasha, I...I can't express...there's...there's really no words I can say to excuse...I mean, there _is_ no excuse...but I-"

"It's all right." Inuyasha interrupted, a part of him feeling annoyed by his grandmother's inability to apologize, while another part of him actually felt kind of sorry for her, and of course his annoyed half was also irked at himself for feeling sympathy for the woman. It was going to take time. But he _would_ put forth the effort.

"I mean, it's _not_ all right, not really, but...it's all right."

Well, he was making about as much sense as she was.

"I'm sorry." Kimiko said then, the look in her eyes sincere as she met her grandson's gaze, before casting an expectant look at her husband.

"Oh, uh...yeah," Hideyoshi started, clearing his throat uncomfortably, "I'm sorry too, for everything."

Inuyasha's eyes softened, then, as he passed a knowing look between himself and his future bride.

"Can't change the past, right? So there's no point in dwelling on missed opportunities. I forgive you." he stated, and Kagome could sense through their connection that he really meant it. She'd never felt so proud of him.

"So...uh..." Kimiko started, to break the new moment of silence before it stretched for too long. She was clearly nervous and unsure of what to say or where to begin.

"I'll start." Kagome spoke up then, relieving her fiancé and his grandparents alike. The miko knew this awkward moment was ultimately her doing, but she was glad for it, and happy to help all three of her future family members in any way she could.

First inviting his grandparents to have a seat so they weren't all just standing around, the elderly couple taking the two small chairs usually kept off to the side that they'd acquired for whenever Sango and Miroku visited while Kagome and Inuyasha took the sofa, the miko then immediately launched into a skillfully edited version of how she and Inuyasha had first met, working for Shikon Weekly. Kagome hated lying, and never did at all if she could avoid it, but an unspoken truth was not a lie, and she could tell a cropped story so smoothly that you'd never realize she'd omitted anything important. To hear her tell it in that moment, it sounded as if she and Inuyasha had been friendly toward one another as coworkers from day one. There was no reason why his grandparents needed to know about their initial misunderstanding, and the rift that had been between them for the first three years as a result.

She could easily sense Inuyasha's relief that she wasn't airing all their dirty laundry to the couple who were basically strangers to him, despite being related by blood. She did admit to secretly crushing on him from day one, and that he had been unaware of her feelings for him at first, but only because she'd wanted to emphasize the fact that she hadn't 'gotten to know him' and eventually learned to 'overlook' his demonic features. Bending the truth by implying that they'd become friends, first, in part out of respect for the elderly couple by not throwing it in their faces that they'd basically gone from zero to sixty, having sex on their first date, Kagome still accurately recounted how she'd surprised Inuyasha at the office Christmas party with the large oil painting that was displayed proudly their living room. She then explained how they'd had their first date the very next night, on Christmas Eve, hence the chosen date for their wedding anniversary, stating vaguely that they'd decided to give having a relationship a try after their first date without going into the heated, private details.

"That was the best decision of my life." Inuyasha spoke up then, in reference to giving dating Kagome a try, giving their relationship a chance. "Now, I can't imagine my life without her."

_And you won't have to_... Kagome thought, wisely not saying that part out loud. The look she shared with her future husband communicated the thought between the two of them flawlessly.

After their brief exchange, Inuyasha then went on to tell his grandparents about how he'd landed his career at Shikon Weekly way back when, and Kimiko shocked the hanyou after he was done by reaching forward and grandmotherly patting his hand, no fear of his claws in her scent.

"Your mother would have been so proud of you," she said, before swallowing the new lump that was forming in her throat, "and so am I."

Inuyasha's eyes widened at her words and gesture, his ears erect and pointed straight ahead.

"Obaasan, I..." It was his turn to swallow a lump in his throat, fighting back the sting of tears. "Thank you."

The rest of their evening was noticeably less awkward, as grandparents and grandson – and future granddaughter – each took turns telling pleasant stories, getting to know each other better. Unpleasant subjects, like a certain aunt who had remained nameless, were deliberately avoided.

The elderly couple were noticeably surprised to learn that Kagome was a miko, but tactfully chose not to make any comments that could have been perceived as derogatory, like how amazed they were that a girl 'like her' wanted to be with a hanyou, or that her family had even allowed it. Instead, Hideyoshi politely masked his obvious shock by expressing his surprise in her choice of career. Granted, most traditional spiritualist households were 'active duty', in which case being a miko would _be_ her career, leaving no time for the magazine, so it was legitimately rare for a girl like Kagome to have a 'normal' job. Outwardly accepting his explanation for his surprise at face value, Kagome explained briefly that she was a reservist, so she wasn't _completely_ disregarding her responsibilities as a reiki user, and knowing they had to be curious but were probably too nervous to ask, Inuyasha spoke up in that moment and volunteered the fact that he'd gone with her to some of her training sessions, so her sensei was fully aware of their relationship, and beyond that, most of her fellow miko were also invited to the wedding. He also told his grandparents the same thing he'd told Kagome's family the day they'd met, that if and when the shit ever hit the fan, if Kagome got called in to fight, then he would be right there fighting alongside her. Although he _did _feel connected to his inu-youkai half, there was no grandiose brotherhood of youkai between the species, and since inu-youkai were benevolent there was no way _they _would ever be the ones to rise up and attack mankind. He had no qualms with fighting other youkai species to the death. And even _if _an inu-youkai were to attack their city, at the end of the day his loyalties were to mankind, and his human bride.

His grandparents accepted that statement with agreeable, pleased nods. If either of them were curious about how he planned on actually fighting in such a battle, since he'd never let his aunt know about developing his youkai powers out in the woods, they didn't show it. It was no secret that stronger hanyou could sometimes utilize youki-powered abilities, so they probably both correctly assumed that he too had such a talent. If the thought did occur to them, it didn't make them fear him, as not one single trace of fear was in either of their scents, and in fact hadn't been from the moment they'd arrived. They'd smelled of nervousness, but not genuine _fear_, and under the circumstances he'd easily known why they'd originally felt so nervous. It was pleasing to the hanyou's nose that they no longer did.

The four of them stayed like that for around two hours or so, Inuyasha's grandmother thankfully knowing when to excuse themselves once the conversation died down before things could get awkward again. With an exchange of phone numbers and a promise to stay in touch, Inuyasha walked his grandparents to the door, Kagome watching with a warm smile from within the living room.

Hideyoshi exited first, a firm nod of his head revealing his satisfaction with the evening as he said "We'll see you at the wedding."

Inuyasha nodded his agreement, and then his eyes widened in surprise as Kimiko pulled him into an unexpected embrace.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness." she whispered so quietly that only he could hear it. "I'm sorry, and I'm proud of you."

Inuyasha's arms wrapped around her body in return, as he patted her back gently.

"Obaachan..." he said, a quiver in his voice.

Before he could say more, Kimiko pulled back, out of the hug, and repeated her husband's comment that they'd see the young couple at their wedding. She bid Inuyasha farewell, then, the look in her eyes reflecting both love and regret, while his shown with love and forgiveness. From the uncomfortable shifting of his grandfather's feet, he got the quick impression that maybe he'd been the one, all along, and that had his grandmother been free to make decisions, things could have been different...

But there was no point dwelling on the past, which they'd all already agreed to.

"We look forward to seeing you there." he said then, in regard to the wedding, and he meant it.

Kimiko offered him one last smile, Hideyoshi giving one last nod as he took his wife's hand, and then the pair were on their way, Inuyasha softly shutting the door behind them.

"That was...wow." he said as a grinning Kagome approached him, wrapping her arms around him in a similar fashion to his grandmother's embrace. "Thank you." he said sincerely, pulling back from her embrace just enough to bring her lips to his, capturing her mouth in a tender kiss. "_Thank _you." he emphasized. "It's all thanks to you. Everything is all thanks to you. I don't know what I did to deserve you, and honestly, I don't think I do, but I'll spend the rest of eternity trying to earn you."

"And I'll spend the rest of eternity letting you try." she replied with a sultry smirk that had his eyes narrowing suspiciously, before they widened for a second and then slid shut, as she unexpectedly jumped him and engaged him in a second kiss that was much more _passionate _than the first.

Looked like they wouldn't be watching their recorded shows that night, after all.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

"Man, can this day drag by any slower?" Inuyasha groused, as he paced back and forth in the small room Miroku was holding him hostage in.

He was dressed in a cream and white suit to go along with the general color scheme they'd chosen for the event, his silvery white hair matching his shimmering vest and bow tie perfectly; a nice contrast to the darker off-white of his slacks, jacket and shirt, with white shoes completing the look.

The houshi, who was similarly dressed, chuckled at his friend's agitation.

"Most men are nervous on their wedding day, and, subconsciously at least, they wish for a delay of the inevitable." he pointed out, finding it amusing that Inuyasha wasn't the cliché nervous wreck he was supposed to be keeping calm.

Inuyasha snorted at the monk's comment.

"Maybe if they don't really want to marry the woman they're about to be stuck with." he replied. "I love Kagome and _want _to be her husband. It's all this hub-bub I'm not really into, but I'm puttin' up with it for her sake."

"A testament to your love, in and of itself." Miroku commented, adding, "But I believe with most men it's merely the pending change that makes them nervous. I must say, I agree with your outlook. I could hardly wait for my wedding with Sango to take place. I was as anxious as you are for the day to move faster."

Inuyasha snorted again, remembering the monk and slayer's wedding well.

"You were anxious for the wedding _night_." he said, and grinning, Miroku didn't deny it.

"So, Sango tells me you were present when she helped Kagome pick out her dress." he said instead, changing the subject.

"What of it?"

"Well," Miroku said, "you know what they say, about it being 'bad luck' seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding and all."

"Feh." Inuyasha grumbled, chuckling. "I don't think _bad _luck can come anywhere near us. It's been nothing but good luck, or perhaps the will of the kami themselves, that brought us together. Like some stupid superstition's gonna bother me. She wanted me there; she wanted my opinion."

Thinking back on that day not all that long ago, he laughed a little heartier and added, "I'm just glad Sango was also there, or I would've gone nuts. Dress shopping is _so _not my thing."

Miroku laughed at that as well, sympathizing. When it had been Sango's turn to buy her dress, it had been a 'women only' affair, much to his relief.

Miroku was going to speak back up again, but someone poked their head into the room in that moment, earning the attention of hanyou and houshi.

"It's time." that person said, a member of the temple. "They're ready for you." He met Inuyasha's eyes without a single hint of disapproval or disgust.

That everyone was so cool with a hanyou getting married at their temple, and marrying a _miko _no less...it really spoke volumes about how cool his former boss Mushin was, since he was the head monk there and as such he made the rules. If anyone didn't like it they could go find another temple. From what Miroku had told him, not a single acolyte had requested a transfer at the news of his pending nuptials.

Following behind the young man who'd come to get them, Inuyasha and Miroku both took their places up at the altar. Everyone had taken their seats by that point, every guest who was going to show already accounted for. There were a few people who'd received invitations who hadn't come, but honestly, not too many, and that surprised him. Even some of Kagome's fellow miko from her spiritualist classes were present. The vast majority of guests were their coworkers from Shikon Weekly, of course. It looked like the entire tenth floor was present, and then some. It was a good thing Mushin's temple was rather large. Inuyasha had originally scoffed at the idea of needing such a large place to have their wedding, but as Kagome had pointed out and he now realized it to be true, they _did _have more friends than he'd thought.

It was both a humbling and invigorating realization, what his life had become, all thanks to the compassion and persistence of the woman he would soon be able to call his wife.

Standing nervously beside Miroku, who was of course his best man, Inuyasha wasn't really nervous for the ceremony to begin, he just didn't like being the center of attention like he currently was. All those eyes on him. But looking out over the audience, everyone was smiling back at him, so swallowing the lump in his throat he managed to lift up the edges of his own lips in return. He should be smiling, he figured. He _was _happy, after all. Meeting Mushin's eyes, the holy man already at his place at the podium, he met the hanyou's gaze and gave Inuyasha a reassuring smile, as well. Inuyasha gave his former boss and current priest a nod of gratitude in return and then gazed out over the crowd again; the room was nearly filled to capacity with their friends and, amazingly enough, family. Unsurprisingly, front and center on the bride's side of the room was Kagome's family, but on the other side of the aisle, in the front row, was his grandparents. His aunt and cousins hadn't come, nor had they ever even replied to their invitations, but that wasn't really surprising to him, and the fact that his grandparents _were_ there really meant the world to him.

He knew Kagome's family had accepted him with open arms, and that he could consider her family his own family as well, but it wasn't really the same, and he knew his miko understood that, hence why she'd wanted to invite his family to begin with. A few days ago, during one of their playful runs out in the forest, they'd even stopped on a large mountain ledge that overlooked the city below when the scent of inu-youkai had suddenly appeared on the wind, and knowing that his spiritual canine family lived in an invisible castle in the clouds he'd spoken to the sky, something he had never bothered doing before but had felt liberated in doing in that moment thanks to his fiancée's encouragement to take advantage of the unexpected opportunity. He didn't even know if his father was still alive, and he also didn't know if his half-brother Sesshoumaru even knew of his existence, or _hated _his existence, but regardless, he'd spoken to the sky, his attention on a particularly curious-looking cloud drifting by.

"_Father,"_ he'd begun, _"Brother_..._I_..._I don't know if you can hear me, or if you even care, but I just wanted to let you know I'm alive and well, and I'm getting married_._" _

He'd wrapped his arms protectively around Kagome then, as if afraid the cloud might open up and a large white dog would come flying down on the attack, but even if that _had _happened he knew his miko could have taken care of herself, Kagome having been armed with her bow and arrows. But nothing'd happened, and after a few minutes the cloud had drifted away, the scent of inu-youkai leaving with it. Without any idea what his brother's particular scent was there was no way to know if Sesshoumaru had been among them, or if it'd been a group of completely different inu-youkai, but it'd felt good scenting and speaking with others of his own kind either way, even if they had completely ignored him. It was better than them attacking him, after all. Even though inu-youkai weren't usually very vicious he knew first-hand how _most _youkai felt about hanyou, and he wouldn't have put it past the usually 'benevolent' youkai to make an exception in his case. But nothing bad had happened, and after a few peaceful minutes of watching the cloud go by, Kagome had then climbed back up on Inuyasha's back and the two of them had turned and ran back through the forest the way they'd come, back towards the hiking trails that would eventually lead them to where they'd left their car.

He'd put all thoughts of his demonic relatives out of his head after that, he and Kagome both needing to concentrate on their last-minute wedding preparations, like ordering their cake. He could see it sitting in the back of the room as he glanced that way in that moment, still waiting for the ceremony to begin. How long had he been standing up there? A minute? Two? It felt like a mini-eternity.

Meeting his grandparents' eyes again after a moment, he mouthed a silent 'Thank you' that he didn't care if anyone else noticed. It had to be obvious to just about everyone in the room who the elderly couple were, even though they weren't _really e_nforcing a 'bride's side' and 'groom's side' of the room. Since the vast majority of people present were their mutual coworkers, neither he nor Kagome had wanted to make people feel like they had to choose a side, and so the usher had been told not to ask arriving guests if they were with the bride or the groom and to instead merely instruct them to sit wherever they liked. Secretly, Inuyasha had also feared that the majority of guests would pick Kagome, people sitting on his side only after Kagome's side got too full; that would have been embarrassing. Not really unexpected, but embarrassing. But truthfully, he'd been making friends with his coworkers for a while now, and even with the informality he could hear the murmuring, as some of them knowingly chose his side regardless of what the usher'd said about there not _being _sides. He could hear the guests as they chatted amongst themselves, and there were quite a few people talking about him, and how happy they were for him, instead of onlytalking about Kagome and how this was _her _special day. A few people were only talking about her, of course. Those who didn't really know him, like Kagome's fellow miko, who had most definitely chosen her side of the room. But even they were speaking happily about how glad they were for her; everyone at her spiritualist training classes knew who and what he was, and so nobody who'd had a problem with it would have come to the wedding, he knew.

Finally, after what felt like another mini-eternity, the music began, everyone in the audience immediately hushing themselves as the procession started. A cute little girl carrying a basket full of white and yellow-ish cream rose petals entered the room first, everyone 'awww'ing at how adorable she looked in her little yellow-ish cream dress as she carefully sprinkled out her petals as she walked. She was one of Kagome's cousins; Mrs. Higurashi had accepted their desire for a very small wedding party but had _insisted _on using the available six-year-old to play the part of flower girl, and looking at her in that moment as she took a seat beside her mother in the front row Inuyasha was inclined to agree. It was a nice touch.

With no groomsmen besides Miroku, and no bridesmaids besides Sango, it was already the maid of honor's turn in that moment, as the taijiya and senior editor made her way down the aisle in an adult version of the flower girl's dress, Inuyasha's ring held firmly in her grasp. She met Miroku's eyes briefly, and shared a knowing smile with her husband. They were so glad to do this for their friends. Even though Miroku had lamented Inuyasha's stone cold refusal to 'partake in the pleasures' of a bachelor party, something Sango had had to bite the inside of her cheek to not laugh about as Miroku had complained to her, she could see the genuine joy he felt for their hanyou friend in that moment, as Miroku met her eyes and patted his jacket pocket, silently reassuring his wife that he hadn't done something so foolish as to have forgotten Kagome's ring.

Once Sango took her place up at the alter the music changed, and everyone in attendance stood to pay their respects as Kagome, escorted by her grandfather, made her way down the aisle.

Inuyasha's breathing hitched as he saw her. She looked _so _beautiful. She was truly a vision in her all white wedding gown, the fitted bodice hugging her in all the right places as it showed a _small _amount of cleavage without going over the top. It had short sleeves, showing off her beautiful, fit arms, acquired through years of archery practice. The long, full skirt was _just _the right length, and delicately kissed the floor as she walked, revealing the occasional toe of a white high-heeled shoe. Her hair and makeup had been done professionally, her up-do leaving a few little wisps free to dance about her cheeks. She was, in a word, stunning. No, check that; gorgeous. No, check that. He didn't even _have _a word that was accurate enough to describe her.

Even though he'd already seen her in that dress, it had only been in the casual atmosphere of the dress shop, and Kagome's hair and makeup had not been done at that time. It'd also been like the third or fourth dress she'd tried on – he couldn't remember – and all he'd honestly remembered a few minutes ago about what it looked like was that he'd known at the time, when he'd first seen it, that it was the one. It was _the _one. That's what he'd told her in the dress shop, too, and Sango had giddily agreed, and then Kagome had squealed happily and rushed back in to take it off and make the purchase. She'd had such an innocent, child-like excitement at that time. Now, in that moment, as he saw her walking demurely towards him, something in her eyes was telling him that her soul was actually much older than she appeared, and that maybe, just maybe, they had _already been_ soul mates, soul mates who were now _finally _reunited with one another after an unfair and unjust separation.

He would've thought that he needed to find a way to tell her of his thoughts later on, when they were alone, but the look in her eyes as she approached also assured him that she already knew, and she agreed.

As Kagome reached Inuyasha's side and her grandfather took a seat with the rest of her family, Sango taking Kagome's bouquet of white and cream roses to hold for her for the moment, hanyou and miko both turned to face forward, then, Mushin standing before them with a large golden figure of Buddha encompassing much of the wall behind him.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today before Buddha and the kami to join these two people together in holy matrimony..."

They both tried valiantly to pay attention as Mushin rambled on a moment about the commitments and blessings of marriage, but secretly, neither was paying the houshi their full attention, each of their thoughts dancing around the fact that very soon, they would be husband and wife.

Inuyasha found himself getting lost in Kagome's eyes, barely hearing a word the old houshi said. This woman, this wonderful, fabulous, caring, loving, _beautiful_ woman was about to become his wife, his life mate, not even till death do they part.

"Do you, Inuyasha, take Kagome to become your lawfully wedded wife, in good times and bad, in sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?"

Hearing his name, the hanyou snapped out of his revere just in time to not make a fool of himself, able to act as if he'd been following along the entire time.

_Keh, for as long as we both shall live, and beyond_... he thought, smiling broadly.

"I do."

"Do you, Kagome, take Inuyasha to be your lawfully wedded husband, in good times and bad, in sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?"

_That's a lot longer than everyone here thinks it'll be, and I'll be by his side every single step of the way_... the miko silently contemplated.

"I do."

"Then shall we have the rings, please?"

Recognizing their cues, Sango moved first, handing Kagome Inuyasha's wedding band. The miko's soon-to-be husband obediently held out his left hand, and she placed the ring near the tip of his ring finger as she cupped his hand with both of hers, pausing as she knew she was supposed to.

"Repeat after me." Mushin said then. "With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed." Kagome said, as she slowly, almost sensually, slid the ring home onto Inuyasha's finger.

With the look of pure, unadulterated love in his eyes never wavering, it was then the hanyou's turn, as he accepted Kagome's ring from Miroku and repeated her previous action, preparing to slip it onto her presently naked ring finger, waiting until he received his cue from the monk.

After completing the ring exchange, it was then time for the san-san-kudo. Inuyasha had never been a fan of saké, and not being a religious man he didn't really understand the spiritual significance behind taking three sips each from three different cups to equal nine, but he most definitely _did _understand the significance of sharing those cups with Kagome, and of each of them pouring the other's saké. He didn't just go through the motions. He accepted the act for what it was, of pouring a drink for Kagome he then handed to her and watched her drink, before she then returned the favor and he gladly accepted her proffered gift.

After that was over, Mushin began another brief speech about commitment and blessings, which he once again only paid vague attention to as he lost himself in Kagome's eyes.

For the miko's part, she wasn't fairing much better. This was the happiest moment of her life, but not for any of the childish, fantasy reasons young women most often daydreamed about when it came to getting married. Even though she knew Inuyasha had done all of this for her, wanting to make those old fantasies a reality, and she _did _sincerely appreciate it, in that moment she realized that she would have been equally as content to have merely signed the papers and been done with it. She couldn't deny that for the girliest part of her, her wedding day _was _a dream come true, but it was most definitely not the be all, end all, and she couldn't _wait _for her 'happily ever after' to begin. Some women, not all and maybe not even most, but _some_, didn't really comprehend the true significance that making what was _supposed _to be a life-long commitment actually was. They wanted a _wedding_. They wanted their moment in the spotlight, to be princess for a day. That didn't mean they really wanted to be _married_, or were emotionally prepared to put forth the necessary energy to make such a commitment last. She'd seen it too many times during her career as a relationship advice columnist to not be aware of the fact that far too many people got married on a whim, and far too many also rushed to file divorce papers at the first sign of conflict rather than even trying to make things work. And she was still in her twenties, and had only been working for Shikon Weekly for a little over five years. How sad was that, to have gained such a negative insight after such a brief 'career'? But she wouldn't let other people's failures get her down, on this day or any other. Ask a happily married, elderly couple what had kept them together for so many years, and they'd tell you it was because they were from a generation when it was better to _fix _something if it broke, rather than toss it away as if there was no hope. Not that she ever imagined that she and Inuyasha would one day be faced with any of the challenges that so often threatened to ruin happy marriages in that day and age, but no matter _what _the future threw at them, they'd work through it, together.

"By the powers invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

_Keh, now you're talkin'_...

Inuyasha didn't hesitate to pull Kagome into a loving, passionate but not _too _passionate kiss and embrace. He could hear the audience rejoicing, several people either clapping or cheering, or both, and at least two different male coworkers of theirs were wolf-whistling, but he tuned it all out and refused to feel embarrassed while publicly expressing the emotions he would _never _deny.

With the ceremony completed, Kagome getting her bouquet back from a brightly smiling Sango, Inuyasha and Kagome walked down the aisle hand-in-hand to everyone's joyful congratulations, several cameras flashing as their coworkers gave the hanyou a brief taste of his own medicine. He chuckled at the thought. Clutching her bouquet in her free hand, once they reached the back of the room Kagome called out playfully for all of the interested women to get ready, and then waiting a moment for the audience to prepare themselves she then turned around and threw her bouquet over her shoulder into the crowd. Playful squeals followed suit, concluded by somebody's joyful cry of victory, and turning back around revealed that it was Ayumi who triumphantly held the bouquet. Kagome had to smile to herself at the thought, knowing that the hair and makeup expert actually had her eye on somebody in the office. She was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. Especially if the way he was looking at Ayumi in that moment was any indication, not that Ayumi noticed as she giggled with Eri and Yuka. Smirking to herself, Kagome decided she'd tell her friend about it later.

After posing for pictures by their cake for a couple of minutes, first, it was then time to slice it, the three-tiered masterpiece bright white and decorated with a piping of cream colored flowers. There were no little people standing atop the cake, since Kagome had refused to get a human-looking groom figurine, and so instead it had two silver hearts that were intertwined as one as its topper. A few people cried out for the duo to smash pieces of cake in each other's faces as they offered each other a small taste of the pastry, but laughing at the threatening look in Kagome's eyes, Inuyasha didn't give in to temptation as he delicately plopped the small bit of cake he was holding into his wife's mouth, instead. His wife.

Kagome was his wife.

And he was her husband.

He liked the sound of that.

The popping cork of a champagne bottle heard through the window drew everyone's attention next, as they headed outside and realized with much delight that the reception dinner was ready to begin, the temple workers having turned the normally vacant shrine grounds into quite the festive outdoor party arena. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, which was a good thing, or Kagome knew they would have had to rent an off-site venue for their reception if it'd looked like rain or something, and so thankfully the kami had been with them on this simple desire to be able to have an outdoor reception on temple grounds.

Dinner service got underway without a hitch, a hired catering service having taken care of the actual food itself as well as dinnerware rental, while to cut costs for their friends wherever they could Sango had insisted that she, Rin and Kikyou could handle the decorations. Yuka, Eri and Ayumi had also helped, the trio eager to be a part of Kagome and Inuyasha's wedding in some way, having taken no offense that they weren't officially bridesmaids and hadn't gotten to walk down the aisle. Everyone knew that despite making casual friends with some of his coworkers over the last two years Miroku was really Inuyasha's only _close_ male friend; there was nobody else that the hanyou would've wanted to ask to be a groomsman, and Kagome hadn't wanted an off-set wedding party with only Miroku on her husband's side and half a dozen girls on her own. That wouldn't have been right, that wouldn't have been fair. And so he'd had Miroku, and she'd had Sango; it'd seemed fitting that way, especially since Sango really _was_ her best friend, as well as the wife of her new husband's best man; an added bonus. Besides, even though Inuyasha had had no desire for a bachelor party, that didn't mean Kagome didn't have a bridal shower, and so none of her other close girlfriends from work had felt neglected by her small wedding party because they'd all had a _blast _beforehand at her bridal shower / bachelorette party.

Knowing Inuyasha was the only man for her, Sango hadn't done something stupid like hire a stripper, but Kagome's party had definitely turned less innocent than the miko had been expecting, not that she'd actually had any complaints. She'd jokingly accused her best friend of letting her perverted husband warp her mind, but laughing, Sango hadn't denied it, and laughing as well Kagome had submitted to their 'torture' after that, opening presents like lingerie and vibrators.

The party had been at Yuka's house, since the woman lived alone and so they could get as rowdy as they liked, and that'd included drinking homemade cocktails with colorful penis straws and sharing tales of some of their _wilder _experiences in (or maybe not in) the bedroom. Everyone loved hearing about the miko's dominant, demonic lover, none of the girls disgusted by the notion and in fact Kagome had been able to sense that they were jealous. Fortunately it was the harmless, playful kind of jealousy that wouldn't lead to any actual animosity between them; the miko would've hated to lose any of her friends over something so trivial as her having the hottest lover. Looking back on it, she smirked at the thought.

Kagome had been level-headed enough to not reveal _when _his human transformations occurred, of course, but since Eri'd been the one to bring up the subject, everyone knowing that a hanyou had such a time, when she'd asked Kagome only if she and Inuyasha ever had any 'fun' when he turned human, the mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she'd held up her new set of plush leopard print handcuffs while declaring that they would definitely come in handy had said it all. All seven girls had collapsed into a drunken fit of giggles.

Looking back on that day with a silly smile, Kagome thought about the various presents she had received, presents which she had kept hidden from a certain somebody with adorable canine ears. She was definitely looking forward to tonight.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Inuyasha asked playfully as he came up beside his distracted bride.

Snapping back into the here and now at his appearance, Kagome adopted a playful look of her own and answered his question with a question.

"Wouldn't you like to know? she teased, the look in her eyes promising him that he'd find out all in due time.

"Yes...yes I would." was his reply, and he was about to say more before somebody from the temple appeared out of nowhere and ushered them to their seats at the main table. Passing each other another playful glance, they knew _those _kinds of thoughts could wait until later.

Dinner concluded pleasantly enough, Miroku's toast having been only mildly embarrassing. Once the music started and it was time to dance, very few people in attendance were surprised when the first song that started playing, for the bride and groom's first dance together, was Santa Baby. For those that knew the pair from work, in other words the vast majority of people present, they immediately thought back to the previous Saturday, and Shikon Weekly's annual Christmas party. Kagome had done her famous song and dance to Santa Baby during the party of course, not wanting to break with tradition, but one major difference that nobody had missed, or minded, was that her then fiancé had been getting all the attention, as she did her song and dance as if for him alone, but yet while knowing everyone was watching, and so she'd kept it as PG as usual, much to Inuyasha's relief and everyone else's playful disappointment. Now, in that moment, as they twirled together on the dance floor much more traditionally, the people watching from their places along the edges of the dance floor could see that while Kagome was still quietly singing along, the look in her eyes was much more serious and loving than the rather playful expression she'd sported during her routine three nights prior. For everyone watching, it was beyond obvious just how in love with Inuyasha she really was, and he with her as well, the look in his eyes matching hers perfectly.

Once that song came to an end, their first dance concluded, the young monk in charge of the music quickly switched it over to more traditional party songs, and it didn't take long for several of the guests to join our favorite couple out on the dance floor. At one point Kagome's grandfather took a turn dancing with his granddaughter, his fatherly way of saying farewell to his baby girl even though she'd already left the nest long ago, and Inuyasha took advantage of the opportunity to speak with his grandparents for a little while before the elderly couple took their leave. He even formally introduced them to Sango and Miroku, the houshi and taijiya not surprised by their presence since Inuyasha had already told them about their visit prior to the wedding. The monk and slayer greeted his grandparents warmly, and Kimiko in turn thanked the young couple sincerely for both their professional and personal relationship with her grandson, expressing her gratitude in knowing that Inuyasha had such fabulous people in his life.

The party lasted for a couple of hours or so, the temple staff doing a good job of keeping track of the time so that things got wrapped up on schedule, nobody overstaying their welcome. With most of the cake gobbled up, leftovers were packaged for the happy couple to take home, as well as the topper, which washed, would make a nice decorative keepsake. The other leftover food was donated to the temple for the in-house monks to enjoy, per the happy couple's instructions.

With everyone starting to trickle out, the party winding down, Inuyasha and Kagome figured they'd stayed long enough and ditched out, themselves, Sango and Miroku notified and agreeing to stay till the last guest, to help with the cleanup. It was Kagome and Inuyasha's special day; cleaning up after everyone was _so _not on their to-do list.

The car ride home was surreal. Kagome was silent, having no clue what to say, but one look in her direction revealed how happy she was, her smile bright and bordering on permanent. Inuyasha was just as giddy, and if called such he wouldn't even have bothered posturing and insisting that men did not _feel_ 'giddy'. He was figuratively beside himself in his joy, and glancing at the woman who was physically beside him, his smile only grew wider, revealing his fangs.

Noticing this, Kagome finally thought of something to say, as she giggled at his expression.

"You look like the cat who ate the canary." she said, earning a playful frown from her husband.

Her husband.

Inuyasha was her husband.

And she was his wife.

She liked the sound of that.

"Excuse you?" he said. "I don't look like any _cat_."

This only made Kagome laugh harder, since she knew Inuyasha didn't take serious offense at being compared to a neko-hanyou. She egged him on.

"Well..." she counted on her fingers, "you _do _have pointy ears, and you _do _like climbing trees..."

"I like climbing other things, too, Woman, and I'm _way _more satisfied than the cat who ate the canary. I'm the dog who ate the _cat_." he replied, licking his lips for emphasis.

Kagome's cheeks flushed dark red at his comment, which only made him laugh harder.

"Awww, a blushing bride..."

"Shut up!" she laughed, slapping at his arm.

He chuckled softly.

Pulling up onto a foreign-feeling and yet familiar driveway, Kagome obediently waited until Inuyasha went around to open her car door for her, since she needed both hands to exit properly, holding up the skirt of her wedding dress so as not to dirty it on the pavement. She stared up at the building they were parked in front of with a sense of awe and wonder running through her. Their home. They were _home_. They'd been here plenty of times since closing Escrow, putting together a few finishing touches here and there like new coats of paint, and new appliances, but they hadn't yet moved the majority of their belongings, having stayed in their apartment up until last night. Inuyasha had insisted they do it right; their wedding night would be their first night in their new home.

They'd hired a professional moving company to transfer the last of their belongings throughout the day, a top of the line one for the stars, and they had been made _very_ aware of who their hanyou and miko clients were. While neither Inuyasha nor Kagome packed the same punch as an _actual _celebrity, somebody with power over the social media was somebody you _definitely _wanted to keep on your business' good side. Hanyou and miko had known they had nothing to worry about as far as racism rearing its ugly head was concerned, the movers handling their things less professionally than they would have for a purely human couple. Inuyasha had threatened, in his perfect, Inuyasha way, that if any of their things were mishandled the public would hear about it. He'd threatened this by promising to _promote _the moving company in Shikon Weekly for a _fabulous _job well done, provided they measured up to their reputation, of course.

Swooping Kagome up into his arms bridal style, smirking at her giggles as she wrapped her arms around his neck, he used his hanyou strength to effortlessly hold her to him with one hand while using the other to unlock the door fumble-free, and then entering their home for the first time together as husband and wife, for the first time together with the dwelling actually being their place of residence and where they would be spending the night, Inuyasha took a quick glance around as he sat Kagome down on her feet and immediately felt satisfied with the movers. They had notdisappointed.

All of their furniture, including the preexisting stuff from their apartment as well as new purchases that had been scheduled for delivery that day, was set up just how they had instructed, the boxes of knickknacks marked 'living room' stacked neatly in the corner. His portrait, that oil painting Kagome had done of him, was sitting propped up on the fireplace mantel, ready to be hung at their desired height. Slipping off their shoes in the tiled entryway before taking a quick tour of the main living space to take it all in, Kagome headed into the kitchen after a moment and nodded in approval to see all of the kitchen boxes left alone, since she'd told them she wanted to arrange things and decide which cabinet held what, herself.

Heading down the hall and towards their master bedroom that resided at the end, both bride and groom couldn't resist peaking into the two guest bedrooms and hall bathroom along their way, nodding to themselves in approval of the bathroom having its box of toiletries on the floor, ready for them to unpack. Kagome had been thankful for the help with the furniture, but hadn't felt comfortable with people going through all of their personal belongings, and so the movers had been told to leave the majority of their boxes sealed. The one marked 'towels' was opened, though, as well it should be, with two hand towels already hanging on the towel rack, soap already at the sink and toilet paper already in place. The house was ready to be functional right in that moment, with only more personal odds and ends needing to be gone through by the homeowners. It was perfect.

Both of the guestrooms were fully furnished, one of the rooms actually made into a home office rather than a bedroom, with the computer desk placed in the proper corner, the computer itself already set up and everything. In the actual guest bedroom next door the bed was even made, and looked rather inviting since it was actually their old bed, but resisting temptation they pressed onward, coming upon the room at the end of the hall.

Finally at the master bedroom, Inuyasha surprised Kagome by swooping her up in his arms yet again. She squealed in laughter and didn't protest as he carried her over that threshold as well before setting her back down on her feet again. Taking a quick survey of the room, then, Kagome nodded in satisfaction to note how their new king size bed was also made and ready, dressers in place, lamps on the nightstands, like they'd walked into a hotel suite that'd been prepared for their arrival. Inuyasha headed over to the closet and also nodded his approval upon opening it to see that all of their garment bags were still sealed, their clothing having been delivered to the bedroom closet but not unpacked beyond that point. While he wouldn't have minded the movers putting their dishes away, conceding to Kagome's wish to arrange the cabinets herself being his only reason for instructing they leave the kitchen boxes alone, he had _not _wanted the movers handling Kagome's clothing. It was an inu-youkai thing. If they'd gotten their scents all over her clean clothes then he would've wanted to have her wash everything again before wearing it. Not that he probably would have _actually _made her wash all of her stuff, since the logical part of his mind would've known damn well that it was just the movers' scents, but it was the principle of the thing. Now their brand new bed smelled like the movers, too, but that was okay because pretty soon it'd be covered with much more _poignant _odors. He smirked at the thought.

"Come here, Woman, it's time to get you out of that dress before I _rip _it off you." he said, his voice dropping an octave as he gazed her way hungrily.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome protested, albeit playfully, having no intention of denying him for long. "Sheesh, you're such a horn dog." she stated.

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"And your point?"

She giggled.

"No point. Just stating a fact."

He laughed.

"I thought so. But seriously, come'ere. You needed help getting into that thing; I'm sure you need help getting out of it."

"But that'll shatter the _illusion_..." Kagome protested a little more seriously that time, whining playfully, as she tried to make her way into the master bathroom to undo herself, herself. "There's movie magic going on under here that they never show in the movies. You can't just unzip me and have the dress fall to the floor, my perfectly perfect and nude body revealed underneath."

Inuyasha laughed again at that, some of the fire leaving his eyes in favor of tender understanding and less heated playfulness.

"Come on, Kagome. I've seen you in granny panties, I think I can handle Spanx and pasties." he said with a chuckle. "Let me help."

Kagome laughed again, and then conceding defeat, she plucked all the bobby pins from her hair, letting her raven tresses cascade around her shoulders, before turning and letting her new husband unzip her. After carefully stepping out of the dress and hanging it up in the closet, to be packed away in the proper type of garment bag later, Kagome insisted that she could peal herself out of her Spanx by herself and instead playfully threatened her hanyou husband that he had _better _not still be fully dressed by the time she rendered herself naked. Moving almost faster than she could see at _that _not-so-subtle hint, Inuyasha properly divested himself of his suit, even hanging his jacket, vest, shirt and slacks up in the closet, all before Kagome was completely done pealing herself out of what she playfully referred to has her 'sausage skin'. She didn't have a lot of extra body fat, and if you asked Inuyasha he'd tell you that she didn't even need the damn Spanx to begin with, but he knew it wasn't his place, as a man, to fully comprehend the way a woman's mind worked. As Kagome stood in front of the mirror dressed only in a pair of sexy, lacy white panties, she made some kind of complaining comment about the red lines pressed into her skin in a few places from the restricting garment, but he didn't fully hear what she'd said, let alone fully notice the red lines she seemed to think were an issue. As he saw her standing before him like the temptress she was it was all he could do to not throw her down on the bed and have his way with her. And then it hit him. Why _couldn't _he?

That was how Kagome suddenly found herself on her back, the mattress bouncing, while she gazed up at the ceiling.

Having also removed his underwear and socks, which were discarded less carefully as they remained on the bedroom carpet where he'd dropped them, a nude Inuyasha climbed up on top of his wife, then, settling his excited body against hers, only the barrier of her panties protecting her from his evasion.

"Any wedding night fantasies you'd like me to play out for you?" he asked with a toothy grin as he rubbed himself against her, letting her know just what _he _had in mind.

"A whole bunch, actually, if you'd like to switch places with me." she replied with a teasing smirk, and he quirked a brow at her.

"As you wish." he answered with a mischievous smirk of his own, lifting his weight off of his wife so that she could crawl out from underneath him before he then flipped himself over to rest flat on his back, his arms folded leisurely with his hands behind his head, his arousal the only part of him refusing to lie prone.

Quickly shedding her panties, Kagome scurried giddily into the small walk-in closet, where the box labeled 'master bedroom st' resided. If the movers had deduced that 'st' stood for _sex toys _she didn't really mind it; it had been out of courtesy rather than embarrassment that she'd encoded her label. Busting the box open, she knew Inuyasha knew what she was doing, but what he _didn't _know was that she'd stashed her _new _toys from her bridal shower in with their preexisting treasures.

Inuyasha, hearing his wife fiddling around with their more adventurous belongings, decided he'd play nice and let her do with him as she pleased to the extent that his inu-youkai instincts would allow. Eventually he knew his youki would rise up and _demand _that he reassert his dominance, but he also knew that Kagome would enjoy that just as much, when it happened, and so in the meantime he'd let her have her way with him. With that thought in mind, he lifted his head lazily to glance her way as she reemerged from the closet, and Kagome had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the shocked expression on his face as she appeared, his eyes widening to the point of saucers as they drank her in.

No longer naked, technically speaking, at least, she was dressed in a delightfully scandalizing, crimson red pair of crotchless panties, with a matching garter belt whose clips connected to lacy red garters on her thighs for the effect, no actual stockings on her legs. A cup-less corset top in red satin and lace that supported and showcased her bare breasts hugged her ribcage tightly. As if that wasn't enough, in her hand was a small rubber ring, which was covered in little bumps and had what looked distinctly like a battery compartment on one end.

Getting over his shock, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"What's with the toy? Am I not _man _enough for you on my own?" he teased, waggling his eyebrows at her while flexing his muscles in a way that made a certain part of his anatomy bounce back and forth.

"Scared to try something new?" the miko teased in return.

"Bah." he replied, moving his arms to his sides while lying his head flat against the pillow, a fire in his eyes that sent shivers down her spine. "If you wanna put a collar around 'Little Inu' and play master, go ahead, but just know that you're dealing with a fierce, wild animal, and not one easily dominated. I can't be held responsible for what he does once he breaks free."

His smirk revealed his fangs, and the sparkle in Kagome's eyes told him she understood and accepted his challenge.

Climbing up onto the bed, she informed her husband that he was _not _allowed to move as she opened his legs wide and knelt between them, the hanyou so far obediently remaining pliant to her touch, offering her no resistance. Getting right to the point without the teasing she usually forced him to endure on his human nights, she wrapped the fingers of her right hand around him, working him slowly, while she clutched her rubber prize in her left hand. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly as he hissed in pleasure, his hips rotating the tiniest bit as he enjoyed her touch, but that didn't constitute violation of her command that he not move in the miko's mind and so she let it go, grinning to herself in triumph at having him both figuratively and literally in the palm of her hand.

Coming back to himself after a moment, when her ministrations remained steady, Inuyasha cracked his eyes back open and gestured to her outfit with a minute nod of his head.

"Where'd you get that getup, anyway?"

"Courtesy of Eri," she replied; "it was a bridal shower present."

He snorted, and eyed the ring in her hand.

"And _that?" _

"Courtesy of Sango."

"Figures."

"Oh like you have any complaints." she said, as she gave him a harder tug.

He closed his eyes for a moment, moaning quietly, before opening his eyes back up again.

"Did I sound like I was complaining?"

"Not yet, but I'll have you whimpering like a whipped puppy before the night's over."

"Unless you bind me using reiki-enchanted cuffs there ain't no way it'll go that far."

"Ooo...what a wonderful idea, that I already thought of. Does that mean I have your permission?" she asked as she stilled her hand, eyes sparkling merrily.

His eyes became more heated, his gaze almost threatening, but still playful.

"That's playing with fire, Kagome. If you want to be able to walk tomorrow, I advise against it."

"Is that supposed to _discourage _me?" she asked sarcastically, as she fitted him with the rubber ring she'd been holding.

He chuckled, a deep rumbling in his chest, which quickly turned into a gasp of surprise as she pushed the ring's 'on' button. In an instant both of his hands were reaching for his manhood, intent on stopping the intense vibrations that were wrecking havoc on his nervous system. One instant later, and Kagome was lying spread out on top of him, her hands pinning each of his own onto the bed at his sides.

"Uh-uh-uh..." she teased. "No moving, remember?"

Their bodies were pressed together fully, her 'clothing' in no way hindering their intimate contact, and she closed her eyes and wiggled her hips in pleasure as the vibrations still rocketing through him stimulated her as well.

"K-Kagome, turn it off." he rasped, desperate for it to stop but also obediently remaining still when they both knew he could easily overpower her.

"Umm...no." she said, pretending as if she'd actually given the matter any thought at all.

Already excited and needing no prep time, Kagome released his left hand, trusting that he wouldn't ruin her fun, as she used her right hand to guide him home. They became one effortlessly, earning a strangled cry from the hanyou's throat, and once she made contact with the bump on the front of the ring it was her turn to gasp. She immediately started to raise herself off of him slightly, but then suddenly both of his hands were on her waist, pulling her back down as far down as she could go. Her eyes opened wide as a jolt of stimulation that was bordering on too intense rocketed through her body unrelentingly.

He chuckled again.

"Looks like somebody didn't take their new car for a test drive before signing the papers. You play you pay, Wench." he stated victoriously.

"I-Inuya-yasha-_aaaaaaa!" _

_Music to my ears_... he thought, grinning smugly, as he held her in place while she convulsed.

He wasn't far behind her, everything becoming too much for him. Despite his previous objective of being a good little hanyou and just lying there for his wife's amusement, in that moment he lost control, roaring his satisfaction not long after.

As Kagome collapsed beside him on the bed, flushed and panting, he turned his head and met her eyes with a sheepish grin.

"Oops, sorry."

She laughed.

"Well, that was fast, but as we already established, two years ago tonight, you're _far _from _finished_...and so am I."

The look in his eyes smoldered, their golden amber depths becoming rimmed with just the faintest hint of crimson.

"Get the cuffs."

It was going to be a _long _night.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Three years later...

Kagome paused in her dusting as she sensed a familiar demonic presence creep up behind her. There wasn't a single sound. Not a breath of air out of place in the stillness of the guestroom. Whirling around, Swiffer duster in hand, Kagome proclaimed "Ah-hah!" and smiled triumphantly as her husband paused mid-pounce.

"Damn...I'm never going to be able to sneak up on you, am I?"

She shrugged, before turning around to get back to her dusting.

"Not unless you find a way to completely mask your youki."

Finished with dusting the few knickknacks that decorated the bookshelf in the guest bedroom, Kagome turned to the bed and picked up the pillows one by one, patting and fluffing them like she did every evening to prevent dust from accumulating on the fabric. Inuyasha watched her work with a sense of pride mixed with wonder. How could the woman work an eight-hour job every day and then come home to chores with that smile on her face?

Of course, he knew it helped a great deal that he didn't act as if taking care of the house was exclusively her responsibility. Sure, he could see that making sense if she were a stay-at-home housewife, but she wasn't, and he understood and respected that. He did his fair share of chores around the house. They took turns cooking, and doing the dishes and laundry. She usually dusted, but he was no stranger to the vacuum, or the toilet brush. It was a lot of responsibility, taking care of a home, but it was a responsibility he was thrilled to call his own, to have a _home _to call his own, and a _wife_... In fact, he wouldn't mind it if they had even more responsibilities than they currently did.

"Kagome...I've been thinking..." he began hesitantly.

"Uh-oh..." she teased good-naturedly, looking up from her place smoothing out the bedspread.

He grinned, but then got serious again, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, which earned her attention.

"We...we don't really _need _a guest bedroom, do we?" he asked then, gesturing to the room they were currently standing in. "I mean, yeah, a couple of times in the beginning Miroku and Sango came over for movie night or whatever, but they didn't spend the night afterwards, and now, with the girls, and their son on the way, you know they're never going to use this room. Who else do we need it for?"

Kagome appeared to think that over, and then shrugged again.

"I just made it a guestroom 'cause there was nothing else that came to mind at the time, plus we had our old bedroom furniture, so it'd seemed better to have a guestroom set up rather than toss the furniture and leave it empty. Did you have any ideas?"

The twinkle in her eyes told him that she might know exactly what he had in mind, but also that she wasn't going to jump to any conclusions until she heard him say it.

"I know we've discussed it before, briefly, and we'd both decided to wait a while, but..." he began, reaching up with his right hand to rub awkwardly at the back of his head.

"Are you done waiting, Inuyasha?" she asked, unmasked hope in her voice. He knew what _she_ wanted.

"Maybe it's seeing how Miroku and Sango are with the twins, I dunno." he shrugged. "I never even thought I'd have a _wife_, let alone children, so I'd never entertained the possibility before you came into my life."

"And now?"

"And now...I mean don't get me wrong, I _love _having you all to myself." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she giggled. "But yeah, I think I could get used to having a little brat running around the place. I think I could get used to it rather quickly."

Squealing in delight, Kagome launched herself into her husband's arms. He caught her effortlessly, and bringing her over to the guest bed, which was their original bed from their apartment, he gently laid her down on the comforter as he crawled over her slowly and purposefully, capturing her mouth with his in a heated flurry as he removed her clothes with a passion that told the miko if it weren't for the fact that her husband was sterile he probably wouldn't let her out of the room until she was pregnant.

As it was, he still didn't let her leave the room until several hours later, when her growling stomach betrayed the fact that they'd skipped dinnertime by an hour or two. One look at what had become of the once perfectly presentable bedspread had the hanyou's eyes smoldering with renewed fire, although he quickly got a rein on his libido when he heard his wife's stomach growl a second time. He sighed wistfully as he got dressed, watching her do the same.

"Since I'm the one that messed up your masterpiece, I'll wash all the bedding and remake the bed if you want to start dinner." he said, already making a grab for the sheets.

"Deal." Kagome agreed, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Although, I guess we won't really be needing this bed for much longer, will we?"

His eyes sparkled at her words, and this time, not with the heated fire of passion, but with something else; something that looked distinctly like unshed tears. _Happy _tears.

"No...pretty soon there'll be a crib in here. And obnoxiously cute baby animals painted on the walls."

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears of joy, as well.

"I can't wait."

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Passing inspection by the adoption agency had been easier than they'd feared.

Even though prejudice existed in some humans' hearts when it came to hanyou, they were _legally _consideredhuman and could not rightfully be discriminated against when it came to something like judging whether or not he and Kagome would make fit parents. All their social worker had been allowed to consider during their home study were the same credentials she would have judged in anyone else's case. What kind of a living situation and lifestyle did they have? What kind of money did they make? Could they properly care for a child? Was there any history of alcohol or drug abuse? Did either of them have a criminal record or a history of mental illness? And so on and so forth.

Of course, they'd passed the investigation process with flying colors. Opting out of hiring a babysitter to raise their child _for _them, Kagome had decided that she could do the majority of her work from home, knowing that her readiness to be a stay-at-home-mom would make a big difference in the agency's eyes. She'd already cleared it with Miroku, gaining the necessary software on her computer at home to allow her remote access into their magazine's e-mail and website. Since they were a monthly publication she also had plenty of time to review the printed questions in the 'Dear Kagome' column in time to submit her answers for print in the following month's issue, and so she actually only needed to go into the office once a month for a few minutes, if that. She could also just as easily e-mail her answers for print to Tsubaki; a cousin of Miroku's who'd been working for the magazine nearly as long as he had and who'd taken over as senior editor after Sango had made the decision to become a stay-at-home-mom, herself.

Miroku had given himself a raise to make up for Sango's lost wages when she resigned, since he was running the magazine and could therefore pretty much do whatever he wanted, but nobody'd given him grief over it, everyone understanding his situation and supporting him in his decisions. He definitely needed the money to help take care of their little ones, and everyone who knew him knew he wasn't stealing from the company to acquire an unjust amount of wealth behind everyone's backs. Part of the proceeds went to Mushin's temple, as they always had since the very beginning. At the end of the day it was technically still Mushin's company, even though Miroku was now in the driver's seat. He missed having his wife by his side throughout the workday, but having a loving family to come home to more than made up for it, in the houshi's eyes.

Unlike Sango, however, Kagome was _not _retiring, and the 'Dear Kagome' column would continue to thrive, alive and well, from her new base of operations. She would miss her friends at the office, but pretty soon she knew she'd be too busy to really think about them _too _much; she was about to have her hands quite full, and she could hardly wait. The miko was also looking forward to sharing the newest details of her and Inuyasha's life together with her followers on her blog. Everyone already knew they were married, but she'd refrain from mentioning anything about their pending adoption until after it'd already happened and their little bundle of joy was nestled safe and sound in his or her new nursery; the former guestroom.

For a time the pair had contemplated artificial insemination. Inuyasha hadn't wanted to deprive Kagome of the experience of being pregnant, of her baby really being _hers_. They had discussed it at great length. A part of him would have loved to see her grow round with child, and he'd even joked that he would have _really _liked watching as her breasts grew large with milk. She'd playfully slapped his arm for that one. But when it boiled down to it, Kagome just didn't have the heart to put her half canine husband through something like that. While the rational, human side of him would have fully comprehended what was actually happening, what they'd decided to do, knowing that Kagome had _not _cheated on him, the inu side of him would have went wild scenting another man's seed inside of her. It would have been torturous, and it would have broadcasted his failure, in his mind, of not being everything a husband should be. He couldn't get his wife pregnant, so she had to let some _other _man do it. Even on his human nights, he couldn't get her pregnant. They'd looked into _that, _too. Even though it was already documented that hanyou were sterile, end of discussion, they'd still decided to double-check, just in case. Maybe the only reason she'd never gotten pregnant from their new moon shenanigans was because it was the wrong time of the month for her; nothing a doctor couldn't have helped them with. Unfortunately, the doctor had confirmed his human self was also shooting blanks. So if Kagome wanted to get pregnant, it had to be by another man's seed, no ands, ifs or buts.

Even though Inuyasha would have _known _it was a medical procedure and would have _known _she hadn't actually slept with another man, his demonic aura wouldn't have comprehended those minor details. He'd tried to brush off her concerns, telling her he loved her and that he could handle anything for her sake, but they'd both known how hard it would have actually been on him and because she loved _him_, Kagome had insisted on going the adoption route instead. Even though she was perfectly capable of bearing her own child she had told him bluntly that if she couldn't have _his _baby then she didn't want to give birth to _anyone's _baby, and so as far as she was concerned she _couldn't_ have her own baby and that was that. She'd known going in that he wouldn't be able to father her child; she'd known before they'd even gotten together, when she'd first fallen in love with him, that being with him would have meant not having a baby the traditional way. But that did _not _mean they couldn't have a family; there were plenty of parentless babies out there that needed people to love them. The sperms in the sperm bank weren't homeless babies in need of love. They were just sperms. They could sit there and rot for all she cared. A living, breathing, homeless baby that needed somebody to love him or her...that was what Kagome wanted.

After finally getting the good news that they'd passed inspection, they had their appointment set to meet with their social worker and go over some photolistings to narrow down the type of child they were looking for. Driving to her office, Kagome had butterflies in her stomach, glad Inuyasha was driving as her mind kept wandering. It was like one of those online dating sites...sort of...except not really. A few profiles with some pictures...how was she supposed to go through a list of children, read a few stats, and then make a decision? Still, this was what she'd wanted, more than anything. She supposed she was just anxious. It felt weird, but honestly, it was a good kind of weird, and exciting. This was far more important than picking a puppy at the dog pound. She wanted to smack the back of her own head for even contemplating such a cruel comparison, because a human baby was _not_ a pet, and even though her husband _was_ half dog, that was different. Youkai were different from their mortal animal counterparts; they were as intelligent as people, whereas a regular dog obviously was not.

How had she gotten on this line of thought again? Ah, right, they were about to pick out their child. How was she even supposed to choose? One look at their little faces and she'd want to take all of them home.

Their goal was to get a baby, not that they wouldn't love an older child just as much, but they both wanted the full parenthood experience, beginning at infancy. On the other hand, the older a child got, the less likely they were to be adopted, Kagome knew, 'cause everyone else wanted a baby, too. Was she being selfish? Wasn't the better choice to give an 'unwanted' child a chance? But what if-

"Would you relax?" Inuyasha spoke up suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. "You smell like a nervous wreck," he chuckled, "everything's going to be fine."

"How can you be so calm?" she asked. "This is a big, big, _huge_ life-changing event."

"Yes, yes it is," he agreed, "and just like with every other huge life-changing event that's come into my life thus far, I'm confident that the kami know what they're doing."

Kagome calmed noticeably at her husband's reassurance, realizing he was right. Everything that'd happened so far had been meant to happen just the way it had, and this would be no exception. The kami _did_ know what they were doing, and she would put her faith in them that the right baby, or child, would present itself, making their choice obvious and really no choice at all.

Pulling up in front of the social services building, Kagome took a few deep, cleansing breaths, and then took her husband's hand as they made their way inside and down the hall that led to their assigned case worker's office.

"Knock knock..." Kagome said as she rapped lightly on the door frame to their worker's office, the door wide open as their worker sat at her desk looking over a stack of papers.

"Ah, Kagome, Inuyasha, come in come in..." she said when she looked up, gesturing with a beckoning wave of her hand for them to enter and have a seat in the two chairs across from her.

Going into the lady's office, they paused at the way her eyes twinkled with an emotion they couldn't quite read, her feelings a jumbled mix of excitement and nervousness that didn't make sense to either the hanyou or miko. Excited they could see, because she was happy to help yet another homeless child find a home, but why was she nervous? They had already been approved, but even if she hypothetically had bad news she should've been feeling regret in that case. Kagome could sense no regret or remorse from the woman, just apprehension, and Inuyasha's nose was giving him the same reading. She wasn't sad in the slightest, as if she had to turn them down, but there was definitely some trepidation in her scent. What made it even more confusing, and a little unsettling, was that the woman wasn't outwardly showing it in the slightest. She had a big, bright sunny smile firmly in place as they took their seats, as if this were her favorite part of the job.

"Okay...and congratulations again, you two." she said in that moment, and both hanyou and miko could tell that her words were sincere. So definitely no bad news then.

She continued.

"You guys said you were hoping for a baby, but gender didn't matter, right? I've put together a collection of all of the infants currently available. Do keep in mind that at this precise moment in time I cannot guarantee the availability of a specific baby, as there are other potential parents out there looking over these same lists with their social workers, too, but so what we need to do from here is see if we can find you guys a match and then submit it for processing through the court for final approval and placement."

That said, she handed them a folder that held a bunch of computer printouts from their website.

Kagome took them and started to look through them, Inuyasha leaning over from his place beside her so that they could go through the list together, but a slight hitch of breath from their social worker caught both of their attentions after a moment and they glanced back up, folder temporarily forgotten.

"Is something the matter?" Kagome braved asking, wanting to sense how the woman would react to the question.

She didn't freak out, as if terrified of getting called out on something she'd wanted to keep secret. Instead, her level of nervousness stayed about the same, mixed with a splash of determination while she sighed almost inaudibly, giving them both the impression that whatever it was, she had already been trying to muscle up the courage to tell them.

"It's just...well, I'm not really supposed to make any recommendations that go against what you already specified in your list of desired characteristics, and you'd specifically said that you were hoping for an infant under one year of age, and as you can see there are a decent amount to choose from..." She gestured to the folder in Kagome's lap. "But...well, I've also put together a list of some available babies between the ages of one and two, if you think that'd be something you were willing to consider."

There. She'd said it. On the one hand it was against the moral code of her chosen profession to go up to people and say 'Here, I think you should have _this _baby' but on the other hand, even though it went against their wish list, her heart would never have let her forgive herself if she didn't at least bring this child to the couple's attention.

Kagome and Inuyasha shared a look at their social worker's comment, the miko setting the folder of infants down on the desk in order to pick up the other folder, which she didn't open just yet.

"I've been arguing with myself all day over whether or not it's selfish to want a _baby-_baby when I know there are so many other children in need of a home." she admitted, because hey, it was true, after all. And she knew she'd love a two-year-old just as much, even if a part of her would feel a little sad about missing out on the baby part. "Any particular reason why you didn't bring this up earlier?"

Was the woman just trying to push the older babies in general, to give them a chance, or was there a _specific _older baby that had triggered this desire in her? One particular child she wanted to see adopted above the others, but was afraid to say so?

At Kagome's question, their social worker looked visibly more nervous, biting her lower lip in thought, as her eyes darting to glance Inuyasha's way, clearly debating what to say.

The hanyou's ears perked up at her hesitation, as he reached the same conclusion his wife was reaching.

"This isn't just about wanting us to consider an older baby, is it? Is there a _specific _child you had in mind for us?"

"I'm not really supposed to do that." she answered evasively. "It's supposed to be your decision, with no pressure from me to coerce you in one direction or another."

Inuyasha snorted.

"Yeah, but if your reasons are what I _think_ they are..." He let his words trail off as he gently took the folder from Kagome's hands and opened it.

The first paper, right at the top of the stack, featured...

"A hanyou..." Kagome said with wonder, as she gazed at the adorable photograph, mesmerized.

Moriko, it said her name was. A little girl, about eighteen months old. Genetic testing had confirmed that she was a kuma-hanyou. Her father had been a bear-youkai. To Kagome, she almost looked like a teddy bear, with her wavy dark brown hair and those adorable bear cub ears poking out from the top of her head. Her heart melted, and she wished she could pick the baby up and cuddle her right through the photograph.

The miko turned her head and met Inuyasha's eyes, a look of shock mixed with elation in her own.

"A hanyou." she said again, voice still full of wonder.

Sure, it _had _crossed their minds, and they'd looked into it briefly, but the odds had been practically non-existent. One negative about hanyou being legally recognized as human beings was that websites and companies were not allowed to categorize them separately, even in a potentially beneficial way, the government seeing that as a double-standard, and so there had been no way to check if there were any hanyou available for adoption on the child services' website other than going through every single profile one at a time, and not every child was even on the list to begin with. For the ones that _were _on the site, it _was_ listed on each child's profile page whether or not they were fully human, but it was not incorporated into the searchable criteria, presumably so that nobody could willfully filter _out _the hanyou children, as if that was even a legitimate concern considering how rare they were. Statistically speaking, unclaimed hanyou children were about one in a thousand, and Kagome didn't think there were even a thousand hanyou in the entire state. Nation wide there were a several thousand, going up into the tens of thousands globally, but when you lived in acity that had about five _million _people it really put that number into perspective. If hanyou weren't the random result of an occasional interracial breeding they would be classified an endangered species, big time. Sure, if humanoid youkai coexisted peacefully alongside humans then that number would probably be a lot higher, but that wasn't the case.

The vast majority of youkai/human couples, as rare as such an occurrence was, were consensual, and the vast majority of youkai/human rapes that resulted in pregnancy also resulted in those pregnancies being terminated. For a hanyou baby to wind up abandoned and adoptable was rare indeed. Sure, Inuyasha had almost found himself in 'the system' at age seventeen, but in most cases like his, where the human parent died, some other relative somewhere would, albeit begrudgingly, assume guardianship of the child. Stigmas weren't quite what they used to be, and while back in the day having a hanyou in the family would have been seen as such a disgrace that the family would quickly write the child off to save honor, in this day and age revealing yourself as harboring such racism was an even greater dishonor, and the noble thing to do, socially, was to accept the child.

It was this generalized change in viewpoint that had aided his grandparents in deciding to make amends, Inuyasha knew. Sometimes, he wished that that shift in viewpoint had already happened back when he'd been a child, but on the other hand, if anything had happened differently in his life who knew where he would have ended up, and if he and Kagome would have found each other? No, no he was definitely glad that everything had happened throughout his life the way that it had, leading him to this moment. Never the less, this shift in viewpoint was something he had observed growing in popularity throughout his adult lifetime, his connection to social media making it almost impossible to miss how the mainstream public viewed just about _anything, _and it was this modern viewpoint that was evident in that moment as their social worker practically begged them with her eyes to seriously consider the hanyou girl, and _not _just because she saw them as her only chance to 'unload' the 'burden'. Who else would want to take a hanyou child but a hanyou parent, right? But as Inuyasha glanced back and forth in that moment between the photograph of the baby and the look in their case worker's eyes, it became exceedingly apparent to the adult hanyou that she honestly cared for the baby's well-being, and was sincerely hoping that they would be the answer to her prayers. That they would _rescue _the girl from a long and miserable life of growing up in the orphanage, unloved and unwanted.

"Her name is Moriko," the social worker stated in that moment, explaining, "and when I first met you two, I swear, I didn't even know she was here, or I would've told you about her right away. I just happened to be chatting with a coworker, and I'm sorry for breaking your anonymity, but truth be told I was bragging that I had you two as my clients..."

Before either the hanyou or miko could assume the woman was pulling some kind of an anti-racsim shtick by going 'I can't be racist, I have a hanyou client' she elaborated by explaining, "I'm a huge fan of Shikon Weekly."

Kagome grinned at that, and assured the woman that she wasn't bothered that she'd told a coworker about their plans for adoption, since the whole world would be finding out after the fact, anyway.

Sharing a look with her husband, Inuyasha nodded in agreement of what Kagome'd said, adding a "Keh." for good measure, which had their social worker noticeably relaxing, to know that they weren't upset with her.

Nodding and saying that she'd figured there was no way the story wasn't going to wind up on the Shikon's website, which was why she'd felt so comfortable talking about it with her coworker in the first place, allowing herself to be star struck as she'd giddily talked about it with her friend like the fangirl she was, she then explained that it was that friend, that coworker, who had been aware of the hanyou girl's arrival in the orphanage, bringing her file to attention. Had their social worker never broken protocol by telling her coworker who her clients were, she never would have found out about the hanyou baby.

Inuyasha turned and addressed Kagome.

"See, I told you the kami knew what they were doing. If this shit ain't destiny, I don't know _what_ is."

Kagome gave her husband an affectionate smile, and reaching over, squeezed his hand.

He squeezed back.

Smiling as well at the couple's display, their social worker then proceeded to give them the background story on Moriko, as it had been told to her. There were details she figured they'd want to know that were _not _written down on the baby's profile.

She explained first and foremost that the girl's mother was deceased, and that social services had been unable to identify and contact any other family members to take custody of the girl. She'd had to wait in a type of child services limbo until enough time had passed that they were fairly certain she would never be claimed.

She had originally been found, along with her mother's remains, by a group of Good Samaritan hikers up in the far northern mountains. It was rough country up there, a lot of wild forest youkai, along with regular wild animals that could be just as dangerous, but that didn't keep the hard core adventure seekers away, and these particular hikers had not been strangers to those particular woods. They _had_ however been both astonished and horrified to hear the earsplitting wails of a crying baby in the distance and had immediately gone to investigate. Finally reaching the scene of the crime, they'd found the human mother slashed to pieces, and the baby, who'd been named Moriko by someone from child services, had clearly been injured as well, but her youkai blood had also just as clearly saved her life. She had not been in danger of dying from her wounds, but she would have definitely died if left out there on her own and so the hikers had immediately used their satellite phone to call for help, taking care of Moriko until Search and Rescue arrived on the scene.

DNA had confirmed the human woman was indeed Moriko's mother, as well as confirming everyone's suspicions that she was a kuma-hanyou. The mother's wounds had definitely appeared to have been caused by a bear, or more accurately a bear _youkai_, and so the hypothesis, never confirmed, was that some other kuma-youkai, most likely _not _the girl's father, had attempted to eliminate her father's 'mistake'. A spiritual reading had verified that the girl's youki was strong enough to indicate that her youkai sire had almost definitely been strong enough to produce a humanoid glamour, meaning the human woman's lover had appeared to her like a _man_, not a bear. Considering Moriko had been roughly five months old at the time of discovery and the woman had been dressed in 'mountain man' type clothing, the hypothesis became that she had run away to live with her youkai lover in the forest, and had perhaps succeeded for a time until somebody else in the father's family put a stop to it. There was no way to know for certain.

For an entire year they had tried to identify the mother and get in contact with her family, but she didn't match any missing persons reports and nobody ever came forward with any information. After a year had passed, only last month, little Moriko was finally put into the system as available for adoption.

Kagome and Inuyasha listened to their case worker's story with rapt attention, almost unable to believe the story was true but yet knowing it was. It was absolutely horrible what had happened to Moriko's mother, but the fact that Moriko herself had been saved...truly the kami at work. In that moment Inuyasha wondered if that were why he'd felt like they'd needed to wait before, and then all of a sudden, only a couple of months ago, he'd suddenly decided that _now _was the time. It was like something had been whispering in his ear to wait until their future daughter was ready for them. He didn't give a _shit _about missing out on the infant stage. What did he want to be kept up all hours of the night listening to a baby crying its head off for, anyway? There was zero doubt in his mind; Moriko was the one.

_Keh_..._kid's got a good name, too_. _Forest Child_..._couldn't have picked a better name myself_... he thought, before giving Kagome's hand another squeeze, earning her attention.

Meeting her husband's gaze, Kagome nodded, and then Inuyasha asked their social worker, "When can we meet her?"

oooOooo

Following their social worker as she drove to the children's home that wasn't all that far away from the main social service buildings, housed in the same business district, Inuyasha smiled as he noted how calm his wife felt this time around, instead of the nervous wreck she'd been only a couple of short hours ago as they'd first headed in for their appointment.

When he'd asked when they could meet Moriko he never would've thought that it could happen right away, but he was ecstatic that that was the case.

"I still can't believe it..." Kagome said, grinning Inuyasha's way. He smiled back.

"It's gonna be sad for her, once she's old enough to understand what happened to her biological mother, but at least the kid's gonna grow up with loving parents. Lucky brat." he said, pride in his voice, because he knew they were going to do right by their daughter. Kagome was going to make a fabulous mother and he...he was going to be a great dad.

Arriving at their destination, they followed behind their social worker as she led them inside the orphanage and straight towards the waiting area, the woman having already contacted the facility about this meeting over the phone while they'd been en route. They were in there for only about ten sixty-second-long eternities, and then the door opened, an employee with a friendly smile and aura to match entering the room with a shy little bundle of joy in her arms.

Kneeling down in front of the sofa Kagome and Inuyasha were both sitting on, the care worker put Moriko on her feet, facing them, the one-and-a-half-year-old dressed in an adorable dark pink dress with a brown image of a teddy bear silk-screened onto the front. Her feet were bare, and without asking Inuyasha correctly assumed that she probably fussed up a storm whenever they tried to put shoes on her. He _still _hated wearing shoes but had simply learned to put up with them whenever necessary.

"Hi there, Moriko! My name's Kagome." Kagome greeted friendlily, trying not to give off how nervous she was starting to become again.

What if her miko aura scared Moriko?

The bear cub girl was just staring at Kagome with wide, dark brown eyes, her cute little human baby nose twitching impossibly fast. Then her eyes moved to take in Inuyasha's form, and he held his hand palm out to her, as if she were a wary dog that needed to get his scent. It might have seemed like a weird gesture to do for a girl who appeared mostly human, aside from her ears, tiny fangs and claws, but Moriko reacted accordingly, leaning forward ever so slightly to sniff at his hand.

"Doggy." she said then, raising her eyes back up to meet Inuyasha's, her own eyes even wider now, if that were possible.

"Smart girl." Kagome said. "His name is Inuyasha, and he's an inu-hanyou. He's half doggy, just like you're half bear."

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, as if she didn't know what a bear was, but it quickly turned out she just hadn't understood the 'half' part, as she enthusiastically said "Bear! Roar! Doggy woof woof!"

Chuckling at her antics, the worker explained, "Sometimes a couple of the workers bring in their dogs to play with the children."

Inuyasha took in that bit information; it cleared up how the toddler had learned the scent of dog. The images in a picture book wouldn't have helped her with that minor detail.

"She's got a good nose on her, then." he said, nodding in approval at the girl who appeared to be absorbing everything they said. "Inu-youkai and mortal dogs, they've got similar scents, but it's not exactly the same, and then on top of that I'm half human. For her to still recognize that I'm canine at her age, that's impressive. Bet her father was a daiyoukai, like mine was."

The attendant nodded thoughtfully, chewing her lip in thought.

"We definitely figured her father had to be strong enough to adopt a humanoid form, considering how human she looks, but that doesn't automatically mean daiyoukai status. We weren't sure about that one."

"I agree, now that I'm feeling her youki." Kagome chimed in, having allowed her aura to reach out to the girl's very slowly and calmly, hoping the child would embrace the sensation like Inuyasha did.

Moriko didn't appear to be reaching back to Kagome, but neither did she seem disturbed by the feel of her reiki. Could've just been that she was too young to understand what she was feeling, since Kagome knew how to keep her aura peaceful and so the girl's instincts shouldn't read it as a threat, but regardless of the reason, now that she was sensing the level of her youki, Kagome definitely agreed that the girl's father had been a daiyoukai.

"How often does she turn human?" Inuyasha asked the care taker then.

She blinked in surprise at the question, but then thinking about it, said, "Only once a month, during the day preceding the full moon, from sunrise to sunset."

Inuyasha nodded again. "That settles it," he explained; "only a daiyoukai sire could lead to a transformation happening that infrequently."

They were all pulled from their thoughts when Moriko chose that moment to waddle up to Kagome the rest of the way, placing her hands on the miko's knees as she gazed up at the relationship columnist's face with a look of wonder on her own, having apparently been completely uninterested in their conversation about human transformations and daiyoukai.

"Feel you..." Moriko said. She smiled, and giggled, which made Kagome smile and laugh as well.

"I can feel you too, Moriko. I'm a miko, and so I've got these special powers that allow me to feel people with my heart."

"Feel you in here." Moriko said, placing both of her hands on the sides of her head.

Kagome turned to Inuyasha.

"Wow...a four-word sentence at her age?"

Inuyasha shrugged.

"She's probably a lot smarter than she looks. Full-blooded youkai, even though they live for centuries, if not millennia, get out of the infancy stage pretty quickly."

The worker nodded her agreement, stating, "She's been speaking with three and four word sentences since she got here. I'm not sure when she first started stringing that many words together, but she definitely seems smarter than other babies her age."

"That's all right, that's a good thing." Kagome said then, leaning forward a little bit to crouch down more to Moriko's level as she asked the little girl, "May I pick you up?"

Moriko nodded, and lifted up her arms in compliance.

"Up!" she said enthusiastically.

Chuckling, Kagome leaned forward and picked the girl up, settling back on the couch with Moriko in her lap. She turned to look Inuyasha's way, and he smiled at the two of them. Seeing the lopsided grin he was sporting, she grinned back, and then asked him, "Well, what do you think?"

"Keh!" He reached forward and tenderly placed his hand on the back of Moriko's head. "As if you even have to ask."

Moriko, for her part, turned to look back at Inuyasha at his touch.

"Doggy!" she said again, and he laughed.

"That's Papa Doggy to you, young lady."

He quickly shifted his eyes in their social worker's direction, worried that maybe he shouldn't have said that since nothing was finalized just yet, but she only nodded, and offered both him and Kagome a warm smile.

"There are no other interested parties; the court should approve your request without much if any delay."

As if understanding what the social worker had just said, and that it was the final confirmation she'd been waiting for, Moriko chose that moment to giddily exclaim "Papa Doggy!"

Inuyasha laughed again.

Snickering herself, Kagome questioned her husband, "Papa Doggy?"

He just shrugged.

"If we were all bears then I'd be Papa Bear, right? But I ain't a bear, so I'm Papa Doggy, instead."

"Makes perfect sense." Kagome replied, shaking her head in amusement before redirecting her gaze to gain the attention of the eighteen-month-old sitting on her lap.

"What do you say, Moriko? Would you like to come home with me and Papa Doggy? Would you like to live with us?"

"Live? Home?" Looking down, Moriko put her fist in her mouth for a minute, which for some reason looked more like a nervous habit than the random act of a baby. "No home..." she murmured quietly, before meeting Kagome's eyes, her aura and scent both suddenly giving off tremendous sadness. "No home...no Mama..."

"Oh _hell _no." Inuyasha said immediately, ignoring the brief glare Kagome gave him for using a mild curse word in front of the baby.

He then proceeded to pluck the hanyou girl right off Kagome's lap and place her on his own, facing him. She gazed at him with big, wide eyes, but didn't smell afraid. He nodded once in approval of her bravery.

"You are _way _too young to have to deal with what this life threw at you. You might not understand every word I'm saying just yet, but understand this. If you want it, Kagome will be your new Mama, and you _will _have a home."

He met her eyes steadily, and let his youki flare to life around them. It got so strong that the their social worker and the child services aid could both feel it, and they weren't even reiki users. Because they could only feel the raw energy he was releasing it gave them the creeps, what he was doing, although Kagome's calm expression kept both women quiet, as they watched to see what would happen next. Kagome could very well sense what her husband was doing, and the emotion he was pouring into his aura as he wrapped it around little Moriko was one of family and acceptance. It was welcoming, rather than threatening, inviting Moriko's own demonic aura to dance with his in return. Inuyasha wasn't sure if Moriko was old enough to consciously control her aura, but even if she couldn't respond to him on a spiritual level he knew she should be able to sense what he was doing and understand it on a subconscious level. When it really boiled down to it, youki was youki, and most demonic auras vibrated at the same energy levels, meaning their magics were all about the same, regardless of species. Had she been inu would have woofed at her, knowing that she'd instinctively know the inu language as well, but since she was kuma that wasn't an option; he hoped this would be enough.

Moriko's eyes opened as wide as they could possibly go, and Kagome and Inuyasha both felt it as her aura _did _flare, just a little bit, and then she tilted her head back and let out a low growling wail from the back of her throat. It sounded suspiciously like the whine of a baby bear crying out for its mother; a sound she'd never made before in the care worker's presence because the woman jumped back, clearly started.

"That's your cue, Mama." Inuyasha told Kagome then, not that the miko had needed her husband to translate as she immediately reached for Moriko and wrapped her arms around her, the little girl clinging to her in return.

"It's okay...it's okay Baby Bear, Mama's here..." she cooed as she held Moriko tightly.

She had easily sensed what Inuyasha had done, and what Moriko's reaction had actually been. While she'd made a sound that had sounded like something a frightened bear cub might cry out while asking for its mother to come rescue it from danger, what she'd sensed from the little girl at the time was only a sense of loneliness, and of wanting the family acceptance that Inuyasha had offered. It was like he had asked the girl if she wanted them to love her, and she had shouted back with 'Yes please love me!'

Kagome knew in that moment...Moriko already knew her real mother was dead. Whether she'd overheard people talking about it, underestimating her hanyou hearing, or it was something she could sense with her demonic instinct, or both, Moriko _knew _she was alone and didn't have a place to call her own. She knew where she lived now was _not _home. And she knew that they were offering her that. A new home, a new mommy...

As Kagome held her in that moment, she allowed her own aura to rise again, as well, wrapping around Moriko lovingly, and the girl only hugged her tighter. _Much_ tighter. She _was _a _bear_-hanyou, after all.

_Boy can she give bear hugs_... Kagome thought, grateful that the toddler wasn't cutting off her air supply.

"Want a home..." Moriko said then, sniffling, and that was all the social worker needed to hear.

Honestly, unless Moriko had screamed bloody murder the minute the other worker had brought her into the room, trying frantically to get away from the miko and inu-hanyou, she had planned on pushing for the adoption. She hadn't actually expected the toddler to voice her own desire to go with the pair, but that they had indeed managed to get that reaction out of her only told her all the more that she'd made the right decision.

The two county employees present let Kagome and Inuyasha have a few more minutes with Moriko, as they eventually explained to the child that they had to say goodbye _for now _but that they'd be together again real soon, and 'for always', and then with the child services worker leaving with Moriko in her arms, the little girl waving goodbye to her future parents, Kagome and Inuyasha left with their social worker to fill out and submit the last bit of paperwork. It wouldn't be long now.

oooOoooOoooOoooOooo

Only a few short weeks later, during which time they had visited her regularly, and Moriko's paperwork was finalized, Inuyasha and Kagome bringing their daughter home for the first time.

Their _daughter_.

"Can life get any better?" Inuyasha asked aloud as he glanced in the rear view mirror at the drowsy bear cub nodding off in her car seat.

"Yes, yes it can, and will, each and every day from this day forward." was Kagome's reply, and as they pulled up to their house and he watched as she retrieved the sleepy girl from her car seat, Inuyasha was inclined to agree.

Moriko regained wakefulness as Kagome carried her inside, her eyes wide, little nose twitching a mile a minute as she took in all the scents.

Having already baby-proofed the house – at least as much as one _could _baby-proof a house when that baby had hanyou strength – Kagome immediately sat Moriko down on the floor, her bare toes curling into the carpet.

"Here you go, Moriko. This is _home_. You're home now."

She turned and looked up at Kagome, her adorable brown eyes suspiciously sparkly.

"Go on, get used to the place." Inuyasha said then with a friendly shooing gesture of his hands, knowing the animal side of Moriko would need to explore the place like an animal would, rather than a human girl.

Clearly understanding him, but giving no outward acknowledgment to what he'd said, Moriko took off then, walking around the place and looking behind this or that, sniffing everywhere she went. They followed behind her quietly, letting her explore her new home to her heart's content. Moriko didn't say much, but they could tell she was taking it all in. Running down the hall she bypassed her room and ran straight into the master bedroom at the end of the hall, where her new parents' scents were the strongest. This was very obviously where these two people lived, Moriko recognized. This _was _home. For the inu-hanyou and miko, at least. But now...now it was _her _home, _too_.

She looked up at Kagome and Inuyasha as they entered the bedroom.

"Would you like to see your room?" Kagome asked, and smiling brightly, a grin that showed off her cute baby fangs, Moriko nodded enthusiastically.

She had a room! Her own room! She didn't have to sleep with all those other noisy, smelly babies anymore!

Kagome and Inuyasha shared a look and chuckled at her enthusiasm as they told her which room it was and she ran in and leapt effortlessly up and into her crib bed, jumping up and down on the mattress while squealing in delight. They chuckled again at how easily she'd pulled off the maneuver. At least they didn't have to worry about her getting hurt if she ever fell out of the thing.

Having had a few weeks to prepare for their little bundle of ursidae joy to arrive, they did some mild redecorating, and reinforcing, to the nursery. The original wooden crib was out and replaced by a custom one made of poly-coated galvanized steel. Hanyou were too rare for there to actually be any company out there that specialized in hanyou-proof products for children, but there were plenty of metalwork shops out there that would make you pretty much whatever the hell you wanted, and Inuyasha had found one that actually had experience making these kinds of cribs. It looked cute, and plastic, bright pink to match Moriko's favorite color, but she would not be able to accidentally break it apart during a temper tantrum.

They weren't stupid, and knew that it wasn't going to be sunshine and rainbows every single day for the rest of their lives, but they were even looking forward to the bad times. It was what made a family, a family. Sharing a look with her husband, Kagome reached over and grabbed Inuyasha's hand with her own, and he immediately responded, closing his powerful and clawed fingers around her smaller, delicate hand. Looking down at their hands, Kagome's looked so fragile while held in his own, but he wasn't fooled. He knew she could totally kick his ass with those miko powers of hers. It relieved him to know that one worry most human mothers of hanyou children had, of their child accidentally seriously injuring them, was a concern they didn't have. Kagome would _never _use her miko powers _against _Moriko, no matter how much of a brat she was being at the time, but Kagome _could _throw up a protective barrier around herself if need be, say if a 'terrible twos' Moriko tried to shove away at mommy while not understanding her own strength.

Those were worries for another day, however, as the adult hanyou in the room gave his wife's hand a little squeeze, both of their gazes going back to the half bear girl who was still jumping up and down on her mattress like it was a trampoline. Before either of them could say anything to her about perhaps putting a stop to the jumping, Moriko stopped on her own when her eyes landed on the teddy bear that was sitting atop the dresser.

"Mine?" she asked shyly.

Kagome smiled, picking up the bear and handing it to the girl.

"Yours." she confirmed. "This is _your room_, Moriko. Everything in here is yours."

"Including us." Inuyasha added quietly, his ears focusing forward as Moriko giggled.

"Mine!" she screamed, squeezing the bear tightly.

Her tone of voice wasn't like a spoiled brat insisting that it was hers; Kagome could tell from her aura, she was absolutely ecstatic to have a toy to call her own.

They watched her for a moment longer before Kagome snapped herself out of her trance, reentering reality.

"I guess...I guess I should go start making dinner. She's probably going to be hungry soon. Probably eats like a bear, too."

Inuyasha chuckled as she added that last part. Noting how Kagome lingered, as if really finding it difficult to tear herself away from the scene before her, Inuyasha grinned and reached into the crib, scooping Moriko and her teddy bear up into his arms.

"Keh, come on, kid, let's go watch Mama make dinner."

"Mama! Papa Doggy!"

Grinning lopsidedly as he followed Kagome out into the kitchen, his new daughter tucked securely in his arms, Inuyasha knew that no matter what eventual badness life tried to throw at them, it would be outmatched, dramatically, by the amount of goodness that had already come into their lives. Together, he and Kagome, and Moriko, could handle anything. It was going to be a good life.

_~ Fin ~_


End file.
